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Recovering from my war wounds was a struggle until an old horse helped me find a path toward healing for both body and spirit.
Boomer and me
I served five years in the Marine Corps. During a deployment to Afghanistan I suffered a traumatic brain injury, as well as damage to my right knee and back. Back home at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, I had surgery that left my leg 12 centimeters smaller and underwent a rough six months of physical therapy that went nowhere. I started looking into other options.
I was aware of the benefits of equine therapy, and I found a program close by. I signed up, but the waiting list was long. Another Marine in my unit, Zoie, had a horse that she kept off base, and I asked if she could help. Zoie was more than happy to teach me to ride, and she invited me out for my first lesson.
But that day it was another horse who really caught me eye---a beautiful Paint in the far pasture. Zoie said his name was Boomer, and he was 24 or 25 years old; he belonged to the ranch owners, and he was retired. I continued to take riding lessons with Zoie on weekends. On each visit, I made it a priority to give Boomer a treat and love on him. Soon he began trotting across the pasture to see me.
Then I was offered the chance to ride him. Boomer was so excited and happy to be working again, you could feel the energy through the reins. I came from the world of hot rods, and I’ll never forget feeling like I was in a drag race that first time I let Boomer go. His power and energy were impressive, but it was the connection between us that I remember most about that day. This was something I had been missing in my life.
Not long after that, Boomer’s owners returned him to a woman named Christine, who’d had a buyback arrangement for him. I got to know Christine, and I told her how much I loved this horse, how much he’d helped me and how much fun I’d had riding him. Then I got the best Christmas present I could want---Boomer.
Between riding with Zoie and the work I was now also doing in the equine therapy program, I was starting to get a handle on being with horses. One lesson I hadn’t expected was how my body language affected my everyday life. I hadn’t realized how people had found me intimidating. But you can’t fool horses. It made me very conscious of how I present myself.
Boomer was the ultimate test for my newfound skills. He, I realized, was just like I had been when I first came home: stubborn, with the attitude, “You’re not going to tell me what to do.” I quickly learned how my body language affected him. If I got upset, so did he. If I was too aggressive, he would cow kick. We spent hours working together on the ground every day, and we figured out how to understand each other. Once I started riding, we were off….
That first year, we clocked more than 150 miles on the trails. Now Boomer is 27, with a clean bill of health. He has a fire in his eyes and he loves the trail, and I love nothing more than to be out there with him.
I’m better, too. My legs are finally the same size again, and I’m using muscles that had gotten weak from the injury. Best of all was finding myself in Boomer---he kept reminding me to just calm down and think.
Some days I feel like we had been put out to pasture---a broken Marine and an old horse. Yet we found a new life in each other, both coming back when no one thought we would, both taking each other further than we thought we could go. Here’s to the ones that save us.
Boomer’s power and energy were impressive, but it was the connection between us that I remember most about the first day I rode him. This was something I had been missing in my life.