PROJECT COMEBACK

Project Comeback provides support for veterans as they process PTSD by involving mutually beneficial interactions between horses and humans. The goal of our program is to improve PTSD symptoms in veterans and create a space in which they can develop healthy coping strategies and interpersonal skills for real-world application.

Our focus is to help people step outside of themselves, to guide them in helping something bigger than themselves (physically and metaphorically), and as a result experience organic healing for themselves as they help a horse along a healing journey of its own. We put the horse first for this reason, and for the reason that any program offering "healing" cannot come at the cost of another being.

We focus HEAVILY on the horse's healing. Our goal is to help our rescued horses overcome the traumas that they have endured before arriving at our sanctuary, whether mental, physical, emotional or a combination. We focus primarily on the horse's healing and do not call what we do "therapy", because we don't believe healing can happen for the person if they are on the defense. No one wants to feel broken. No one wants to feel like they need to be "fixed".

Instead, we share the story of the horse, not just as a living being, but as a prey animal. We share the traumas we know each horse has endured, and the traumas we can only assume they have lived based on their current behaviors, fears and aversions.

We find that through sharing the horse's story people can connect with parts of that story, and start to draw parallels to their own healing process. The traumas that our horses are healing from connect with the past experiences of the people who come out to help them. After all, everyone has trauma, everyone is human.