HAUBSTADT, Ind. (WEHT) – Triple E Ranch is helping veterans work through triggers from deployment while also helping wild mustangs learn to go from a curiosity state to being secure and trusting its relationships.
The veteran program uses the same training techniques used with wild mustangs.
Sky Epperson is the owner of the ranch and says the program came about when a mustang was adopted by a mental health professional- realizing that the two were speaking the same language, helping both the veteran and mustang adapt to its new, safe environment.
Epperson says, “They go into boot camp tearing down everything that they know they go into the service they come out of the service and there’s relatively no time spent to help them adapt back to the civilian world so just like the mustangs they’re trying to step into this new world now and so they just find so much that they can relate to.”
The brain-based approach relies on trust- making sure the mustang is tolerating being around a person, while veterans are figuring out how to be back with their families.