The W.A.R.R.I.O.R Therapeutic Horse Pack Trip:
In Operation Equine's ongoing commitment to providing excellent equine therapy services for our nation's heroes, we created a unique program that combines the best of our organization's talents with the benefits of experiential healing and wilderness therapy by integrating human connection, camaraderie, equine assisted therapies, and the Great Outdoors for our Military Veteran community.
W.A.R.R.I.O.R is an acronym for:
Wisdom
Acceptance/Accountability
Respect: for self, for others, for the world around us
Responsibility: for our choices, for our thoughts, and for our actions
Integrity, Insight, Intention
Own my impact
Relationships: with self, with others, with the world around us
This unique experience is a 6-day program that includes a 3-day/2-night horse pack trip and highlights:
- The relationship with horses: both on the ground and on horseback
- Practicing evidence-based equine-assisted psychotherapy/learning
- Gaining (&/or refreshing) basic horseback riding and horsemanship principles/skills
- The healing effects of nature: being in it and working in it
- Camaraderie: working together to prep and cook meals, helping take care of the horses, cooperating in campground chores
- Building and participating in intentional, therapeutic campfire sessions
- Learning and practicing mindfulness skills with the purpose of cultivating increased self-awareness and self-regulation skills.
These skills and practices are intended to reduce stress, decrease anxiety, increase emotional intelligence, and improve the ability to communicate in healthy ways, cultivating/creating a renewed sense of purpose for self and family.
Participants will experience a lifetime of benefit from the shared purpose, the camaraderie, the relationships they build with others, and by learning skills that will positively impact not only themselves but also their families, thereby truly giving back to our nation’s warriors in a manner which they so well deserve.
The program currently headquartered in Colorado takes place in Basalt, Colorado, and in The Flattops Wilderness with the A.J. Brink Outfitters just outside of Gypsum, Colorado.
