Operation Warrior Horse is designed to help Veterans begin to heal from the invisible wounds incurred in service through the healing effects of the horse and human connection.

This experiential therapy groups meets on the serene acres of Healing Hoofbeats of CT in Bethlehem. It is facilitated by a Licensed Therapist and an Equine Professional who is also a Combat Veteran. In partnership with our four-legged healers, this therapy team is the perfect storm of mental health expertise and a working knowledge of military service.   

V.E.T.S. provides a serene place for military veterans to go that provides therapeutic healing through equine-related activities by highly skilled instructors, staff and trained volunteers.

V.E.T.S. exists with the goal to provide our services at no charge to our clients.  Some of our volunteers and staff are veterans themselves, and understand the challenges veterans face reintegrating into domestic life after experiencing the psychological trauma and physical wounds of war or life after service.

V.E.T.S. is totally supported by your donations and our volunteers. Please use the link below to financially support our efforts that allow us to bring services to our veterans at no charge to them ever.

Founder Anne Chapdelaine  was 7 years old when her  parents bought her a Pony only to share a few months later they were getting a divorce – that was the first time in her life when her Pony served as emotional support for me.  Fast forward 33 years and her loving husband passed away suddenly leaving her a widow – again my horse “Peaches” served as a safe place to grieve and heal.  It is then she decided to share her animals with other hurting and healing people.

The focus at Acts of Hesed is not riding or horsemanship. 

The programs Equine Assisted Therapy (EAP) involves ground-based activities with horses that require individuals or groups to apply certain skills. Participants learn about themselves and others by participating in these activities with the horses, and then process (or discuss) the feelings, behaviors, and patterns that arise.

Our mission at Heroes and Horses is to un-program the programmed. To offer combat veterans an alternative solution for defining and approaching their physical and mental scars—a solution that does not include prescription medications, or traditional psychotherapy, but rather the opportunity to use tools to redefine their purpose, rediscover their inner strength, and maximize their potential by taking ownership of their lives for the first time since leaving service.

About:  In 1984, Patricia E. Kelly, a U.S. Marine Corp Vietnam-era veteran and African-American cowgirl, founded Ebony Horsewomen, Inc.(EHI). 

Mission: We believe in the healing power of horses.

Ebony Horsewomen (EHI) is a one-of-a-kind, urban riding center in Hartford Connecticut. Since 1984, we’ve served our community’s youth, families, adults, and military veterans through equine-assisted psychotherapy, therapeutic riding, and a variety of youth programs.

Our Mission

To provide veterans and first responders with essential tools to rebuild their capacity for healthy, authentic relationships through purposeful engagement with horses.

Our Work

Our approach to Experiential Learning and Coaching includes engagement with horses that focuses on the body’s natural response to stress and trauma.  We believe, as do experts in the field of neurobiology and trauma, that our reactions to traumatic events and chronic stress remain in the nervous system until they are metabolized and discharged.

It’s an equine experience with an active opportunity for change—when you feel like the system has repeatedly failed you. It's a chance for you to "do a 180," gain a new perspective and initiate positive change. You’ll learn the universal language of the horse, which is based on trust, and we combine it with science-based research that ties to the physiological response within the human body when it undergoes trauma.

Our methodology at Alliance180 utilizes the unspoken communication between you and the horse to reestablish the bond of trust, creating a union within the round pen that can only be described as “the Alliance moment,” where horse and human intersect. This creates a physiological response that participants have often described afterward as doing a 180 or “resetting the circuit breaker.”