HORSE SENSE: Man With a Horse Project, started by Asheville-based U.S. Marine Corps veteran Jake LaRue, is a nonprofit dedicated to equine-assisted learning. Photo by Caleb Johnson The four years that Western North Carolina resident Samantha Simmons served in the U.S. Army crushed her, she says. The physical training was arduous. Her unit leadership was difficult — toxic even. She knew of colleagues who were sexually assaulted and others who died from suicide.
She also had an infant at home and wasn’t sleeping. She experienced postpartum depression, a condition that led her to feel misunderstood and unsupported in the military. Spending weeks at a time away from her child and then-partner was unbearable.
A bright spot in her life was Midsummer Knight, the horse she adopted in 2019, even though she had to wake up at 3 a.m. to muck his stalls before beginning her day as a field medic. Around her gray-dappled horse, the tumult inside her calmed. “Knight helped me navigate struggles,” she tells Xpress . “Knight helped bring me a sense of stability back.”
Today, Simmons is pursuing a degree in nursing at Haywood Community College, and Midsummer Knight boards at Blackberry Stables in Leicester. However, he’s not only helping Simmons now. He is also part of the healing process for other veterans who participate in the Man With a Horse Project, a nonprofit dedicated to equine-assisted learning and started by Asheville-based Marine Corps veteran Jake LaRue .
The equine-human bond underpins LaRue’s own healing journey. Working with horses and other veterans “is what keeps me sane,” he says. He finds the quietude and strength of horses to be grounding. “They give you immediate feedback for exactly who you are in that moment,” LaRue says. “You can’t lie to them. If they had opposable thumbs and could hold cards, you’d never win at poker. They’d call every single bluff.”
Adds Simmons, “There really are healing properties to just being with them.” MANE MAN: U.S. Army veteran Samantha Simmons, featured, says being around her gray-dappled horse, Midsummer Knight, “helped me navigate struggles.” Photo by Caleb Johnson Mission for healing
LaRue’s childhood in […]
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