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“Many times battered women will turn inward, put up a hard exterior. It is not uncommon for them to forget how to smile. Forget how to feel happy. Forget how to make decisions. They can become so conditioned, beaten down physically and mentally, they simply forget how to make choices. Many don't only forget how to make choices, they lose the ability to even think they should be allowed to make choices.
Even crueler, they can lose the ability to love. Or accept love. A problem often seen in typical therapy is that battered women and girls learn to move on, sort of, but often don't learn how to open their hearts again. That's where Betsi's plan and the spirit of the horse come in. Betsi knows the spirit of the horse can open their hearts again.”
Author, Journalist and Horseman, Dutch Henry
In the weeks that followed more and more women came from Freedom House to Echo Ranch and the visits began to develop a structure, a format which we documented into a success kit we use with new volunteers. We worked with women who had never touched a horse through a lady that had started many colts.
From just brushing to full trail rides, everything is the participant's choice. Except for safety issues, the participants are never told what to do. For many of them it is the first time in years that they are allowed to, or have the desire to make a choice. We can see them gain confidence from the horses as they interact with them. They relax. Often they'll tell us it was the first time in a long time that they didn't think of their problems. The success stories make me tear up as I write this. The names have been changed to protect them.
There was “Sally,” a super tough rape victim still in high school. She wanted nothing to do with anyone and was flunking out prior to our program. She arrived in black and purple hair, tough as nails outside, scared to death inside. Within 6 months she was back to straight A’s and an active member of Marching Band. And a year later, she competed in an ACTHA CTC on a borrowed horse, without any purple hair!
There was Ellen. Meek, timid, mild, smoking like a chimney in her car before she stepped out. So afraid. So afraid she couldn’t look people in the eye or hold a job. Now she works and volunteers helping new clients at Freedom Horses.
There was Bev. Already going through several cycles of abuse, the latest included finally dealing with the suicide of her latest boyfriend. She was the first person to find him. Her anxiety level was so high she sometimes couldn’t drive back and forth to the college classes she was attending. A few months into Freedom Horses, she gleefully told us she was taking a vacation to see a friend in another state. Wow.
ON THE COVER: Freedom Horses, Inc. Founder, Betsi Bixby astride her buckskin mare, Boston's Dee Dee at America's Favorite Trail Horse Reality TV Series, where the dream of her healing program was conceived.