Riverbed Equine Therapy Services

Healing of Our Veterans through Equine Assisted Services (HOOVES) is a Non-profit program that was founded in January 2001 to assist veterans not only with healing emotional trauma, but also families with re-integration, self-discovery, anger management, and conflict resolution. We offer individual, family, and group sessions as well as a mustang gentling program.

What we want veterans to know is that: there’s no riding involved; programs are always 100% FREE; confidentiality is maintained at all times; all therapy is either Equine Therapy or Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) and are a self-healing process; and there’s no traditional therapy used. The HOOVES Program produces profound results because it:

• Utilizes the strengths of the military in training warriors for combat
• Veterans challenge themselves in activities with horses which removes much of the “stigma” associated with traditional “talk therapy”
• Equine assisted activities re-create frustrations, stressors, and relationship problems so veterans learn to adapt, improvise, and overcome perceived stressor as effectively at home as they do on the battlefield
• Veterans must respond to the unpredictability and inability to “control” the horse and discover ways to make the relationship work

HOOVES expanded in January 2010 when it became evident that our services were needed by individuals from all walks of life. Now open to anyone seeking to heal and/or grow, we work out of two locations and added Riverbed Equine Therapy Services (RETS) to better serve those in the NW Ohio area.