Standing Ovation by Ovation Riding: ‘When Horses Heal’ Spotlights at Man O’War Project

America’s Best Racing produced a video series in the lead-up to this year’s Triple Crown to spotlight Thoroughbred-based veterans’ equine-assisted therapy programs. Today, learn more about the Man O’War Project.

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The Man O’War Project at Columbia University Irving Medical Center could prove to be a groundbreaking program, providing the first clinical study of equine-assisted therapy for combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. As the first university-led trial of its kind, the Man O’War Project seeks to gather information on how this treatment can help veterans and provide guidelines to similar programs moving forward.

Veterans go to the Bergen Equestrian Center in New Jersey once a week for eight weeks for a 90-minute session to work with horses — many of them retired racehorses. Working with individual horses, especially the retired racehorses, can help veterans draw parallels and experience breakthroughs with their own condition to heal without verbal communication and without medication.

To learn more about the Man O’War Project, please visit the organization’s website.

Many thanks thanks to Ovation Riding for their support of both Horse Nation and individuals and organizations that are doing good work in the horse world. If you know someone who deserves a Standing Ovation, we would love to recognize them in a future post. Email the name of the person or organization along with a message about the good work they do to [email protected]. Photos/videos are always welcome, and include a link to their website if applicable.