My Nonprofit Reviews

I was in a very bad car accident in 1991. I was hurt horribly, with three separate head injuries, broken vertebra in my neck and lower back, my sternum was split in half and I had many other broken bones and soft tissue damage. I could not get out of bed for months. But the worst was in suffering from frontal lobe damage. I could not get in touch with myself. I did not care about too much at all, like what I ate, or what I did, or how I felt and was very impulsive. I lost my temper a lot and I could not control myself very often. I hated to be around people. My physical ailments made it so I could no longer coach sports, or shoot in the skeet club I was in or even hunt or fish. I thought of killing myself many times. I never really had any horse experience except thru my wife who loved them. She got me interested in the ranch...sneaky too. It started with helping with the maintenance, so I would feel worthwhile again, since I am now 100% disabled and cannot work.

I mended fences. I did a little organizing. Then I started working on planning. I was asked to join the board and never had done that, so I resisted. Then I started feeding...what a joy that was. The horses showed me they were each individuals and their personalities were wonderful. I got so I missed them when I wasn't there. They gave me a reason to get out of bed and to feel worthwhile. I do ride, but it does bother my lower back so only one a month or so. But now I am out there every day...because I want to be. I also finally joined the board and care for all the maintenance now and I am glad to do so.

We are a humble place with donated buildings and nothing fancy at all, just the horses. They are the stars of the ranch, well, until the clients and volunteers come out. We have had so many wonderful times out there. The horses have shown me so much about myself and how to get over my walls I had. They challenge me an make me laugh. They even help me understand people better. I cry when I have to bury one of the sanctuary horses as this is our 16th year. I feel very fortunate to have this ranch in my life.

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