A local organization is working to help first responders and service members who are dealing with the effects of trauma, as well as thoroughbred horses who are retiring from their racing careers.
Donna Simpson, of Myerstown, founded Pennsylvania Warhorse in 2019 and now serves as its executive director. She spoke with LebTown about the not-for-profit organization and its two-part mission.
“We rescue, rehab, and rehome off-the-track thoroughbreds. And while they’re rehabbing, they work a program called Warhorses Healing Heroes with veterans and first responders,” Simpson said.
The Warhorses Healing Heroes program will run several times over the summer, with its first run scheduled for June. Simpson said those interested in the program can contact Pennsylvania Warhorse for details.
The not-for-profit organization also offers a program in which therapists can refer their clients to Pennsylvania Warhorse for an equine-assisted therapeutic program.
“If you currently have a therapist that wants you to do therapy with the horses, we work with them,” Simpson said. “I’m certified in equine-assisted psychotherapy. And I can work in conjunction with your current therapist and discuss what they’re looking for and what we can do to possibly help.”
“I have had people come who have just found out that therapy is not working. … They don’t want to talk to the therapist. I’ve had a kid who just shut down and refused to talk to the therapist. And his parents, as a last resort, brought him out to us. He’s doing great.”
She added, “We also do a more flexible kind of horsemanship therapy, where they come by themselves and do work at their own pace.”
The Pennsylvania-based organization’s office is at 530 E. Lincoln Ave. in Myerstown, and it stables its horses at Taylorfield Farms, 5 Bull Frog Road, Grantville.
Pennsylvania Warhorse rents eight stalls, or a single barn, at Taylorfield Farms and uses the farm’s facilities. All Pennsylvania Warhorse horses are stabled at Taylorfield Farms, but not all of the horses stabled at Taylorfield Farms are Pennsylvania Warhorse horses.
“We currently have seven horses,” Simpson said. “Five of them are off-the-track thoroughbreds. One is an Arab, and one is just a pony.”
While rehabilitating the horses, Pennsylvania Warhorse uses thoroughbreds for therapeutic programs and its Arab and pony for horseback-riding lessons and pony rides.
On Saturday, April 27, the organization’s pony started “his career as One-Eyed Willie, a pirate pony,” Simpson said. “We had rescued him from a sale. And since we got him, we’ve had his eye removed [due to an injury].”
When asked how the organization obtains its horses, Simpson answered, “We get them all kinds of ways. I’ve had people [including her personal friends] contact me with a horse that they want to know would I be willing to rehab it and then rehome it? And they sign it over to Pennsylvania Warhorse.”
Pennsylvania Warhorse has also obtained two horses from New Start, which works to rehome Penn National’s recently retired racing horses.
“I’ve had horses that I’m made aware of that are going through the auction at Lebanon and/or being destined for the slaughter truck and intervened and got them off the truck,” Simpson said. “Those I bought.”
There are numerous benefits to equine-assisted therapeutic programs, which Simpson is intimately aware of due to her certification in equine-assisted psychotherapy.
“Equine therapy is amazing,” she said. “The horses do wonderful things for people. Their electrical field is big. They can slow a heartbeat. They can help slow your breathing.
“They read your emotions. You can’t pretend with them. They’re very honest. They’ll know if you go in and you’re lying to them. And when they sense you need somebody, something, you’re upset, they’ll give you as much as they can. And every horse can give something different.”
Simpson said that those interested in pursuing an equine-assisted therapeutic program through Pennsylvania Warhorse should contact the organization at 717-945-4616 or pawarhorse@outlook.com.
“We attend a lot of community events that we talk and meet people, and people take literature. We try to target veteran events,” Simpson said.
Pennsylvania Warhorse hosted a stand in Harrisburg near the beginning of April. The organization plans to attend a Capital Region Veterans Coalition family fun day this May, a Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association event this June, and potentially appear as the second vehicle in this year’s Labor Day Parade in Jonestown.
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