Letters toWT W
Dear editor, I was thrilled to see the
story in your March/April issue about The Colorado Therapy Horses, “Do Horses and Oil Mix?” My wife Beth and I are empty nesters and visit the Trakehner herd of- ten. We use the horses to keep in touch with our feel- ings and remember to be grateful. Richard McMahon, who runs the program there, contacted us one day about a special veteran, a wom- an named Anna Felde, who we fondly call “Doc.” Once we heard her story and met her, we asked Doc, who needed a place to live, to move in with us. We weren’t sure what to expect, but when her dogs and ours got along we were pretty sure this would work. Taking her in has changed our lives. Doc has agreed to let me to share her story with
your readers so that they can understand how Rich- ard’s therapy program positively affects veterans. Doc grew up as a normal kid with good grades, who was also an exceptional athlete. She became a soccer champion at University of Southern Colorado, then went on to play semi-pro and then pro-soccer in New York with the Western New York Flash. She also went to the Keck Medical School at USC. At age 26, she decided to join the Navy as a medic
12 July/August 2017
deflected the bullet from her femoral artery. (She was later awarded the Purple Heart by President George W. Bush.) Afterwards, Doc returned home as a different person, angry at war, at the world, often triggered by crowds and noise. She was living on a potpourri of drugs for pain, anxiety and insomnia. For several years, she just drifted, not knowing who she was or what she wanted. Then one day she met Richard and the Colorado
Therapy Horses. From the first session, she started feeling calmer. The Trakehner herd, especially the mare Pebbles, seem to nurture her. Slowly, she started feeling safe…at home…and started getting off the drugs. Her fear and anxiety began to leave and she started to feel “normal.” No one is ever cured of PTSD but Doc feels lucky.
to help pay for her education. For the next 11 years, she visited 22 countries, learned to fight, lead and kill, if necessary. Doc dealt with over 3,000 casualties and/ or deaths of young men and women. Her PTSD and survivor’s guilt comes from having a craving for fruit rollups. One day her team was based in a storefront in a strip mall in Gaza. She and a buddy decided to go to the little market down the way for the delicious local fruit rollups and were out of the building when the terrorist bomb destroyed most of her team. Finally, on a med-evacuation mission, she and another physician’s assistant were sent in to save two wounded marines when they came under fire. As the other marine and PA were able to evacuate, Doc felt bullets buzz by and threw herself over her marine. She was shot in the leg and still has the penny that
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“I’ve made new friends and for the first time I feel re- ally happy with my life. I’m getting back to being the old me,” she said recently. Doc works hard and holds three jobs. Richard, the horses and her new friends have changed Doc’s life. She can cope without all the anti-anxiety drugs now. “I’m not a hero; I’m a survivor. The heroes are the soldiers who don’t come home. I just got shot and survived,” she said. Regardless of what she says, to us Doc is the real deal—a real hero indeed.
Jim Smith, Aspen, Colorado
Dear editor, Once again, our
Austin Dressage Un- limited (ADU) Judg- ing Seminar, this year with Lilo Fore, was a huge suc- cess. We ended up with 93 dressage en- thusiasts registered: four judges, 27 L Graduates, 17 instructor/trainers and 45 auditors. We received many, many positive com- ments, summed up by this one: "Informative, engag- ing, entertaining. A great learning experience." We want to thank you so much for sending boxes of
your magazines for us to share with participants. Warm- bloods Today and a Dressage Foundation brochure
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