WHC seeks funding to build Camp Harris

War Horse Creek (WHC) at Living Free Animal Sanctuary just completed the pilot phase of its veteran transition program and is seeking an initial $150,000 of funding to build out the facilities veterans stay at while they are in the program. Camp Harris, the facilities, will be named after the late Randall Harris, military veteran and former president of War Horse Creek.
The newspaper previously reported, “On the morning of March 2, Mike and Linda Rivkin, business managers from the Southern California Pipe Trades Administrative Corporation (SCPTAC) and active and retired military, met at Living Free for the groundbreaking of the semi-permanent structures that will be built between now and the middle of June.
“The Rivkins donated $25,000 to the WHC. SCPTAC provided a matching $25,000 grant.”
“War Horse Creek is effective for veterans at any stage of their transition, from newly released to veterans who have been out for decades, the results have been astounding,” says Executive Director of War Horse Creek Ray Barmore. “Our goal is to raise enough funding to build out facilities and infrastructure, in addition to offering scholarships for veterans to participate at no cost to them.”
“War Horse Creek is a veteran-led program which rescues wild mustangs from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and brings them together with military veterans in an innovative approach called Collaborative Horsemanship,” War Horse Creek writes of the program. “This approach gives veterans the opportunity to master skills that go dormant during their military tenure – empathy, patience, understanding, kindness and compassion. Once these skills are mastered with the Mustangs, they can be ingrained as adaptive habits and transferred to family, friends and society. The program combines Collaborative Horsemanship with life skills training, recreational activities, downtime and connection opportunities.”
“Mustangs are, in effect, highly sensitive 1,200-pound biofeedback mechanisms that sense and respond to a veteran’s intentions, physicality and emotions, mirroring back subconscious issues so that they may be identified and addressed,” Barmore said.
“I didn’t have to say a word to anybody,” Air Force veteran Itzel Barakat said about War Horse Creek. “I felt my heart healing and that’s what I needed. War Horse Creek provided a sense of relief and peace that I haven’t been able to find.”
War Horse Creek wrote, “New research on the equine therapy modality from Columbia University has proven that equine therapy results in brain-based changes that can increase an individual’s capacity to enjoy life, despite facing traumas and war adversities.” Visit https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Neural-Changes-Study.pdf for a link to the study.
“I have been teaching veteran transition courses for 10 years and have continually brought students up to War Horse Creek,” said Harold “Doc” Martin, 20-year military veteran and professor at Pasadena City College. “For those already moving forward with their lives, the time spent there deepened their commitment and fully cemented the connections they were creating with other veterans. For those suffering the most, the time spent with the Mustangs often resulted in a real breakthrough. I cannot imagine a better place to help veterans transform their military experience and readjust to civilian life.”
For more information on War Horse Creek, call Ray Barmore at 951-659-4687 ext. 0 or email him at [email protected]. To donate, visit https://living-free.org/war-horse-creek/.
For a video regarding the program, visit https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cd28bad2-38ed-453b-94e4-55a46d0671b8.