MONROE — She survived a sexual assault while on active duty in the military. Now horse therapy is helping Army veteran Jennifer Landanger heal.
Landanger, of Everett, has for the past year been working with Arleen Gibson at the Monroe nonprofit H3, which stands for horses healing heroes. It focuses on helping veterans recover from traumatic experiences by building relationships with horses.
“When I work with the horses, I get peace I don’t get anywhere else,” said Landanger, 29. On Friday, she stood in a small wooden stall in Gibson’s barn with a 4-year-old mustang named Aiden, who has a reputation for being pushy.
Equine therapy is growing in popularity. There are now more than 600 programs in 50 countries with professionals offering the treatment, according to the nonprofit Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association.
H3 is situated on a pastoral 50 acres along Fern Bluff Road. An old-growth fir barn houses horses Aiden, Skeeter and Buddy, along with mini horses, Arby and Dre, a pony named Beau, Billy the mule and a goat called Mama.
“A lot of soldiers don’t want to sit down with a therapist and talk about their troubles,” Gibson, 64, said.
Landanger, a former U.S. Army medic, said she had a hard time with being discharged in 2012 after she was hit by a bus and injured her back on her way to work at a military hospital. Landanger didn’t report the sexual assault because she hoped to successfully continue her career in the Army.
She turned to drinking or the anxiety medication prescribed to her to cope with post traumatic stress, while she waited to get into therapy through the Department of Veterans Affairs. That led to a substance-abuse problem and legal troubles.
After a seven-month wait for treatment at the VA, a counselor connected her with H3.
Gibson’s role is to help veterans like Landanger feel comfortable and gain confidence as they work with the horses, some of whom haven’t spent much time around them before.
She stood outside the stall and guided Landanger through an exercise in controlling the mustang, who’s “kind of like a young man who doesn’t know his boundaries yet.”
Landanger established her own space, only allowing Aiden to come as close as she was comfortable. She told the mustang to move out of her area instead getting out of his way. When she wanted the horse to come close, she initiated contact.
When Landanger needs to have a good cry, she spends time with Skeeter, a 19-year-old Arabian horse. He sets his white head on her shoulder.
“If there’s feelings that need to be felt they can be, but nothing has to be said,” Landanger said.
Since starting horse therapy a year ago, Landanger said, she has learned more healthy coping skills and has less anxiety. She’s stopped drinking.
“I have a safe place I can go to if I have a trigger,” she said. “I can close my eyes and put myself back with the horses. It’s calming.”
Once she’s recovered, Landanger wants to become a licensed clinical social worker so she can help others who have served. She said professionals who haven’t been in the military don’t understand the unique stress that comes with the job.
Gibson, a retired advocate for the elderly, founded H3 in 2012 to help veterans like Landanger. Many who have served their country suffer from traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma and post traumatic stress disorder, better known as PTSD.
Gibson isn’t a therapist but the equine specialist has been through her share of trauma and her horses have helped her through it.
Gibson works for free with veterans. H3 also has a mental-health counselor and that treatment is covered by the VA. Those who haven’t served can pay for horse therapy.
Gibson decided to start the nonprofit after a friend who is a Gulf War veteran came to stay with her during a rough time in his life. He turned to drinking, drugs and self-harm to cope.
“He didn’t think he should live when all his buddies died,” Gibson said.
Eventually, after working with the horses a while, he started talking about what happened and things started to improve, Gibson said.
The problems veterans face weigh heavy on her heart because she comes from a military family. Her uncle was a major in the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Vietnam. Her father was a Navy submariner in World War II.
“He had what they considered shellshock,” she said. It affected the entire family.
Now Gibson wants to alleviate the pain for other families of those who served. She recently built a cabin so soldiers and sailors can stay to do therapy and get away. She hopes to build several more in the future.
For more information, go to horseshealingheros.com.
Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports
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