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thedrifter
10-07-08, 02:56 PM
Heroes on horseback
Riding program puts veterans back in saddle

By Sarah Bultema
Loveland Reporter-Herald

Loveland’s Ed Aitken and Wyoming’s Bob Evans worked together Monday to prepare Dan, a quarter horse, for the ride ahead.

Evans carried the heavy mats and stirrups, and Aitken helped straighten them out on the brown horse’s back.

“Ready to ride?” Aitken asked Evans once the horse was geared up.

The answer was in Evans’ smiling face.

Soon, Aitken was leading Evans and the horse around the arena at Hearts and Horses — a nonprofit that helps people control their obstacles through the therapy of riding a horse.

For Evans, the ride was a way to overcome the mental traumas he suffered from his time in the military.

For Aitken, a volunteer at Hearts and Horses, it was an opportunity to help a fellow veteran.

“There’s a bond between one vet and another vet,” Aitken said.

“It doesn’t matter what branch you’re from, we all speak the same language.

“And anything I can do for these guys, I’m here.”


Both veterans are participating in Horses for Heroes — a national program that’s implemented through riding therapy organizations like Loveland’s Hearts and Horses.

The program gives mentally and physically disabled veterans an opportunity to gain the trust and physical benefits that come with riding a horse.

Yet along with the bond and benefits from the animal, Horses for Heroes also helps veterans connect with the volunteer veterans who help them along the way.



Since the program was started locally in September, thanks to funding from the Cheyenne VA Medical Center, veterans who served in wars from World War II to Iraq, and even some who are still in the reserves today, have come together to ride and lead the horses.

“They understand each other,” said Carrie Coyne, volunteer coordinator at Hearts and Horses. “They understand a military mind-set in a way we can’t.”

Monday, as Aitken led Evans and his horse around the arena, it was clear the two veterans were comfortable and trusting in each other.

“Are you ready?” Aitken asked Evans as they walked.

With a nod in reply, Aitken took off running, leading Evans and the horse in a trot around the arena.

Evans sat tall as he rode, hardly blinking an eye as they raced around.

Evans served in the military — Army, Navy and Marines, he said — for 12 years. He, like the other veterans there that day, got involved with the riding program through a mental health program at the Cheyenne VA Medical Center.

For veterans suffering from post traumatic stress and anxiety, riding is a way to build their confidence, Coyne said.

“To build a bond with a 1,000-pound animal and to get to move and control it — that’s going to translate into the rest of their lives,” Coyne said.

Only a few lessons in, Evans said he’s already feeling comfortable with Dan, his horse.

“The horse does what I tell it to,” he said, later adding, “It’s kind of a bond with them. They know the pain that I’m in.”

The horse isn’t the only one who understands. Aitken, who served in Vietnam, does, too.

Aitken has been volunteering with the Hearts and Horse program for about six years. When hearing about the Horses for Heroes program, he jumped at the opportunity to work with another veteran.


During each week’s class, the two sometimes chat about their experiences in the military.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t talk about, especially from that war era,” Aitken said.

“He was from a different war, but we can talk and have a discussion that makes us each feel better about ourselves.”

By the end of the two-month program, Hearts and Horses instructor Alison Plaza hoped the veterans suffering from post traumatic stress and anxiety would gain social skills and be able to integrate back into society, she said.

When more funding, larger horses and veteran volunteers are available, Hearts and Horses hopes to offer the program to local veterans from around Larimer County.

How to help
Hearts and Horses is seeking donations and volunteers so it can offer the Horses for Heroes program to veterans from around Larimer County.

The nonprofit needs larger horses that can carry the men and women veterans, as well as larger saddles.

Veterans are sought to participate as volunteers, too.

For more information about or to make a donation to the program, call Hearts and Horses at 663-4200 or visit www.heartsandhorses.org.

Ellie