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Amanda Held, Founder & Executive Director

“Years ago, I struggled with mental health and relied on medication to cope daily until I met a wild Mustang named Shelby. Working with her taught me the power of emotional regulation and healing. I founded H.O.O.V.E.S. to share this with others, especially veterans struggling with PTSD. Through equine therapy, we can save lives.”

Having grown up and trained with horses all her life, in 2003 Amanda began working with them in a different fashion - to begin her own healing process from depression, anxiety and PTSD.

Encouraged by personal results, Amanda enhanced her proficiency with formal training and certification in EAGALA, Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and several other stress and trauma coaching modalities.

From her training and personal experience, she has developed her own method called Equine Integrated Wellness™. Today she practices and teaches this coaching method, helping over 450 veterans and family members combined to develop the current H.O.O.V.E.S. curriculum

OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Along with our amazing volunteers, this group of professional and caring individuals bring their expertise to our table. From being behind the scenes to being on the front lines, we are thankful for their contributions.

Justin Held

Facility Manager,

Founder | Miles 2 Freedom

Randy Roberts

Chief Safety and

Compliance Officer

Stephan Gardner

Program Advisor,

Creator | Art of Integrated Appreciation Method

Katy Hubbard

Associate Director,

Director of Youth Services,

The Patriot Project Facilitator

Sarah Hess

Director of
Brand Marketing

Matthew Dick

Chief Experience and

Innovation Officer

OUR A-TEAM

Our animal team members help to make everything happen. We are so grateful for these partners who do the work to heal our veterans. Click on the images for their stories.

Hemi

Meet Hemi the Clydesdale

Hemi came to us in 2017. He was a performance horse who pulled in a 6-horse hitch and was even Ohio reserve champion at one time. After developing a condition called Epistaxis (which means when he is exercised heavily, he gets nose bleeds) his former owner wanted to do right by him and retired Hemi from the show pen, but knew Hemi still had a lot left to give. That's when he came to HOOVES.

Hemi is the leader of his herd. He is powerful but uses that power in a positive way for the greatest good. During combat, our service members can have a lot of power that's not typical outside of the war zone. Even the power to take lives. After serving, sometimes that power is not channeled in a positive way and becomes destructive. Hemi has helped many veterans transform the way they channel their power, and relieved them of shame and guilt they may have felt in the past.

Hemi also shows our veterans that even if you've developed a physical condition that doesn’t allow you to perform at the level or in the position you once did, it doesn’t mean that you aren't just as impactful and important, it just means that the form of impact may look a little different.

May

Meet May the Shire

May came to us in 2022 after her owner was asked to remove her from her previous barn for being “dangerous.” May has been displaying signs of aggression to both horses and humans at the facility and had spent a year isolated from other horses, which just added to her behavioral challenges.

Our founder Amanda picked her up and brought her to HOOVES where she placed May with our gentle giant Hemi, who let May have her emotions, but also was not intimidated by her. May quickly learned that her behaviors were not going to have an impact on him, and she was able to let her guard down and become vulnerable. Shortly thereafter she was placed with our Percheron’s Tulip and Molly where she received proper socialization and was ultimately able to safely integrate into the herd.

As far as people challenges, we have not seen that from May. She has been very social and seeks connection with humans.

May’s specialty is vulnerability. It was key to her healing, and she has helped support many veterans this past year connecting to their own vulnerability. One veteran in particular felt he was unable to take down his wall of protection. But the moment he laid it down, she physically laid down with him. Since then, he’s been able to connect with others as his authentic self.

Petey

Meet Petey, the Spotted Draft Horse

Petey came to us in 2020 after his previous owner had an injury and was forced to reduce her herd. What's unique about Petey is that he is missing his right eye.

When Petey was just a baby, his previous owner found him at a kill pen with his eye severely damaged and hanging from his head. We assume that is why he was dumped at the auction. She graciously saved him and now he's serving our veterans at HOOVES.

Petey is our biggest horse on the farm, and he's got a heart to match his size. He knows just when someone needs a big shoulder to lean on and is always happy to present it.
The healing he has provided over the past 2 years has been nothing short of magical! He also inspires those who have physical differences to see that everyone is valuable and can provide a great service to humanity but just being themselves.

Elise

Meet Elise the Saddlebred/Quarter Horse.

Elise is one of the first program horses and came to us in 2009. She was bred to be a cross country jumping horse but had an unfortunate accident at the trainers as a 3-year-old. She tried to jump from a stand still out of a 6' round pen and got her leg caught in the top rail. This tore the ligament that prevents a horse’s leg from going all the way back. While her owner said to shoot her, the trainer decided she would save her, but did so by putting her in a stall. During this time Elise became very aggressive, so no one would go in her stall or take her out of it for three months. This led to severe mental trauma, so Amanda took on the challenge of rehabilitating her.

When Elise first came to the farm, she would rear and strike out to protect herself, and if you opened the stall door just a crack, she would bolt out and run you over. After a few months of training and rehabilitation, Elise was able to be turned out and had a full year to just be a horse. In this time, she learned to trust again, and became very bonded with another horse on the farm named Boss. All of her challenging symptoms disappeared, and she became one of the most affectionate horses on the farm, even nickering when people approach her.

Unfortunately, she faced another challenge in 2018 when Boss fell ill and passed away. They were extremely bonded, and she did not handle his death well. She started behaving erratically and lashing out at the other horses in the pasture. We tried to move her into another herd to see if that would help, but she was still very anxious and isolated.

Through time and connection work, Elise was able to heal and re-form relationships in the herd. She has even formed deep connections with a few new horses. Moving through these challenges has made her an ambassador for those who struggle with anxiety and grief. While we never tell the horses story until after the program, those battling grief tend to be drawn to her. At the end, when they hear her story and see how she is able to thrive, despite the adversity she has faced, veterans and caregivers are restored with hope!

Another way Elise serves is through challenging people's perception. She is a very fancy and beautiful horse. At times, this can lead to people placing judgements or preconceived notions about her personality while observing from outside the pen. She's been labeled as "high maintenance" or "stuck-up" in our observation exercise, but once people get in the arena and interact with her, they see that she is really seeking connection and understanding. Then when they hear her story, they learn how to move from judgement to understanding. This has been a life changing experience for so many.

Cobie

Meet Cobra “Cobie”

Cobie, a wild horse from the Sulfer Springs herd in Utah, came to H.O.O.V.E.S. in 2009. Our founder Amanda was called by a gentleman on her way to give mustang gentling demonstrations at the Cincinnati fair grounds, who asked her to pick him up and put 30 day’s training on him. At the time the gentleman came to visit, Amanda was strictly boarding and training horses and didn’t even know what equine-assisted therapy was.

When the man came to see Cobie at the farm, he introduced Amanda to EAGALA and in that moment she knew it was her destiny! Unfortunately, the man got sick and was unable to take Cobie, so Amanda’s dad adopted him, and they formed a special bond. Ron could handle him with no problem, but he didn’t trust anyone else.
After Ron passed away, Cobie didn’t receive much training and was just left to be a horse. While he was manageable (if you could catch him), he was still somewhat wild. That is until Adam came along.

At Adam’s first retreat, he was drawn to Cobie, but he admittedly wasn’t “all in.” On Sunday, he picked Cobie for his round pen session, where Cobie saw that he wasn’t all in and would not interact with Adam.

Well, it started out as frustration and hurt ego, I don’t need the commitment to start coming out for days a week with the goal of earning Cobie’s trust and attention. After a few months of consistent work, Adam had Cobie easy to halter and engaged with humans. He even resurrected the bow trick taught to him by Ron.
Cobie now fully participates in many H.O.O.V.E.S. intensives, and as Adam learned to trust himself, he helped Cobie learn to trust humans.

Molly

Meet Molly Mae the Percheron

Molly was the second horse purchased by our founder Amanda Held’s father Ron and pulled in a team with Tulip.

When Ron attended an Amish driving school in Cleveland, Amanda specifically told him not to come back with any more horses. 2 weeks later as she was doing the dishes, she saw her father had returned from the school and was hooking up the trailer. She went outside and asked him what he was doing. He replied “You told me not to come home with any horses, so I didn’t. Now I’m driving back to get her”.

He purchased Molly at an auction held after the training. When I heard her story, I was SO thankful he did! She was 6 years old and had already had 4 babies! She still had milk when she arrived at the farm. While my dad was told that she was trained to ride and drive, Amanda discovered the first time that she got on Molly, she was stuck in freeze mode. The more pressure you would apply, the more shut down she became. And there’s no making a 2,500lb horse do anything it doesn’t want to do.

Amanda and Ron quickly realized a lot of emotional rehabilitation was needed and they got straight to work building trust and connection will Molly. Over a short time, Molly became the most solid driving horse on the farm. She did many parades, weddings, and events, and even had people come to visit her every year at the holiday carriage rides at Levis Commons.

After the passing of Amanda’s father, Molly was entered into the veterans program. She has a special gift in helping people with grief and loss. She also often plays a complimentary role to Tulip in retreats.
During one event, while Tulip was displaying chaos and anxiety, Molly went over and stood in front of the arena mirror as still as a statue for about 20 minutes. One veteran said, “That horses is me! Just staring in the mirror like who am I? While my addiction destroys everything around me. Amanda then gave the group the task to harness both the dark and light horses and take them through a pathway together in the arena. It was a moment that changed his life forever. He said that something in his brain balanced out and he was able to let go of his addiction that day.

Molly has a loving maternal energy and that of a wise sage. She never disappoints when someone needs grounding or to return to their authentic self.

Ellie

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Sahyann

Meet Sahyann (Sigh-ann)

Sahyann, a wild horse from Utah, came to H.O.O.V.E.S. in 2010 as Amanda’s Extreme Mustang Makeover Horse. Amanda had 100 days to take her from wild to competition ready, where they made the journey to Ocala, Florida for the EMM.

This was Amanda’s second EMM horse and was able to have her saddled effortlessly within 4 hours of unloading her off the trailer. She was given the name “Sahyann” because in Native American language it means “kind and gentle”.

Sahyann progressed effortlessly through her training, but Amanda felt she needed more time with her beyond the competition to have her ready for another rider. But at the competition, a family fell in love with her and expressed that they were going to bid on her at the end of competition auction.

Amanda was distressed because she had a limited budget to buy Sahyann back, and the people interested in her were very wealthy. As always, she leaned on her faith. Durning the final obstacle course, Amanda chose to show her english style, which meant Sahyann wore a bridle. When they got to the part in the competition where she had to back through cones, Sahyann reared straight up when Amanda put pressure on the reins, disqualifying her from the competition. Therefore, they were unable to progress to the final round.

Amanda couldn’t believe Sahyann would display that behavior and immediately knew something was wrong. Fortunately, her friend Katie came with her, and is an equine dentist. Upon investigation, Katie found an abscess tooth. This completely explained the situation, and as soon as the tooth was removed, Sahyann was back to her gentle self.

This situation was enough to change the families mind, and they purchased a different horse, so Amanda was able to bring Sahyann home and finish her training. After Amanda’s father passed away, she was forced to rehome several horses, and a wonderful opportunity came along for Sahyann to have a loving home, so she was sold.

In 2018, the family that purchased her had some life changes and Sahyann came back to H.O.O.V.E.S. She has been a tremendous asset as a well trained, ridable horse and allowed H.O.O.V.E.S. to start a riding program.

In session, Sahyann had a gift for challenging people on the level of trust they have in themselves. She has a kind and gentle way of holding space for veterans and they are guided back to their hearts and learn to trust themselves again.

Tulip

Meet Tulip the Percheron

Tulip got her name because she has a star in the middle of her forehead that looks like an abstract tulip flower.

When Tulip was young, she belonged to a traveling salesman who went out of town frequently. When he would leave for several days, he would lock the horses, including Tulip in a stall with a few bales of hay and buckets of water. Naturally, Tulip did not like being penned up for days on end while running out of food, so she learned how to get out of her stall and help her friends get out of their stalls. This made the salesman angry, so he began to screw plywood on her stall front. She was trapped in the dark for days on end, and as you can imagine, this made Tulip very claustrophobic and anxious.

Fortunately, or amazing veterinarian found out and was able to rescue Tulip from this horrific situation, but she still needed a forever home. That's when she came to HOOVES. Tulip was originally purchased by our founder's father Ron. Ron was incredibly patient and caring towards Tulip and she returned the favor by helping him learn to drive a carriage. They had a very special bond and healing was restored in both of their souls. After Ron unexpectedly passed away in 2013, Tulip was entered into the veteran's program where she continues to transform the hearts and minds of those facing challenges in life.

Tulip often takes on the "shadow" side of our participants. She helps them reflect on and release the trapped emotions inside. She had also been our most successful horse in helping veterans overcome addiction. One participant said in his session "Even though she is almost all darkness (referring to her sleek black coat), there is still a little light in her" (the white star in the middle of her forehead). He said this helped him transform his perspective about himself and find his own light within.

Pistol

Meet Pistol

Pistol, a Quarter Horse, came to HOOVES in the fall of 2021, so he is a relative newcomer to the HOOVES Healing Herd family.

When Pistol arrived, he had been retired from his short reining career due to chronic, incurable injuries. Pistol had to learn to be a horse again. His personality was very shut down and walled off, not wanting to expose his vulnerabilities. He was buddied up with Petey and they soon became inseparable. During his time with Petey, Pistol’s true self began to shine through.

The first thing that people notice about Pistol is how strikingly beautiful he is with his ice blue eyes, golden coat, and white legs. He quickly becomes a favorite because of how friendly and goofy he can be during sessions. But once the hard work begins, Pistol always has so much to share.

Many of the veterans, as well as other retreat and workshop participants, young and old, see themselves, and their military careers reflected in Pistol’s story of injury, reintegration, and rebirth with their true selves shining through in the end.

Sebastian

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Gracie

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Zoey

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(Major) Donk

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Montana

Brigid

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Shelby

Meet Shelby

The horse who started it all. Shelby was the first wild horse that Amanda gentled and trained while living on the Air Force Academy. Amanda visited a rescue in Falcon, CO and when she entered a corral with 50 babies, they all ran… except Shelby. When Amanda turned around and walked back into the barn, Shelby followed and Amanda knew she had been chosen.

At that time, Amanda had just gotten off of active duty and was really struggling to reintegrate. Training Shelby helped her feel purposeful and learn how to gain control over her emotions. The healing Amanda experienced through working with Shelby was life changing, and inspired her to dedicate her life to help others experience the same healing.

Shelby is an old soul. She has a calm and loving spirit that puts people quickly as ease. She has been doing incredible healing work for veterans since the inception of HOOVES and continues to change veterans lives.

Cash

Meet Cash the Mustang

Cash came to us in 2009. He was part of a roundup on the Paiute reservation in Utah. A group of 56 babies were rounded up and headed to slaughter in Mexico. Fortunately, Lifesavers horse rescue called in at the last minute and saved all 56 babies!

Our founder Amanda got an email from a mustang group, and it was put on her heart to rescue 5 of these babies, despite not having the financial resources at the time. Three days after making the commitment, she received a large envelope in the mail full of checks. A fellow horse woman, whom she had never met, unfortunately passed away of cancer and asked people to donate to HOOVES in lieu of flowers. The money in the envelope was TO THE DOLLAR what she needed to adopt and travel to Missouri to pick the babies up. The other 4 babies were adopted out. One is doing hippo therapy for children, another two help children in foster care, and another was a live saving emotional support animal for a young woman.

Cash stayed with the HOOVES program. His energy is calm amidst chaos, and he has the heart of a true warrior pony. His specialty is showing our veterans and caregivers that it's NEVER too late for a second chance at life

Snickers

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Rain

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Mini - Patriot

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Mini - Mike

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Mini - Charlie

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Mini - Willie

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Mini - Valor

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Nolan Baker

Board President

America's Retirement HQ

Doug Hancock

Board Member

Sons of the American Legion

Henrike Klein

Board Member

Entrepreneur,
International Business Consultant

Joe Bublick

Secretary

Bublick Roofing & Construction

Stephanie Synclair

Board Member

Entrepreneur, Founder La Rue 1680

Michelle Miller

Key Volunteer

FedEx

OUR BOARD OF ADVISORS

Amanda Held

Executive Director

H.O.O.V.E.S.

ABOUT OUR SANCTUARY

From the moment you turn into the driveway you see a peaceful, serene setting. 100-year-old oak trees surround the sanctuary house, giving shade in the hot summer and beautiful color in the fall. In front, a massive pasture with the Flag of the United States proudly flying in the center.

Our sanctuary house provides a warm, inviting environment that feels like home for our veterans. From cozy accommodations to communal spaces and personalized care, it creates a comforting atmosphere where veterans can immediately feel at ease.

Providing an all-in-one location for veterans to gather and remain together throughout the intensive helps the process of healing.

"Driving through the gate at H.O.O.V.E.S. feels like coming back inside the wire."

G Cory Spychalski, Army Combat Veteran

Military Bio

Civilian Bio

Civilian Bio

Civilian Bio

Civilian Bio

White Paper

White Paper

Amanda Held, Founder & Executive Director

OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Justin Held

Randy Roberts

Stephan Gardner

Katy Hubbard

Sarah Hess

Matthew Dick

OUR A-TEAM

OUR BOARD OF ADVISORS

ABOUT OUR SANCTUARY

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