Congratulations to the 2021 Therapy Horse of the Year: Jewel from The Wild Hope!
Here’s her story:
Jewel is our co-founder! While mentoring trafficking survivors she was the mustang that always made a special connection with survivors. It’s their interactions and a survivor telling me that working w/Jewel made her feel human again that compelled me to start The Wild Hope. Jewel’s story of survival, capture in the wild, captivity, branding, adoption, and perseverance resonates deeply with survivors of human trafficking.
Jewel’s owners saw the power of the relationships she was forming with these survivors and donated her to us. She is the org’s first horse, mascot, co-founder, and teacher. Not to mention a beautiful friend! And if Jewel’s impact on trafficking survivors wasn’t enough, she has also deeply impacted my life. As a complex trauma survivor myself, she has been a salve to my bleeding soul; she’s teaching me about boundaries, relationships, and commitment. In all honesty, I’m not sure I would have made it through the past couple of years without her.
Jewel deserves Therapy Horse of the year because she exemplifies the very journey many of our clients are on and brings a wild hope to many who didn’t believe their lives were worth living, myself included. Thanks so much for doing this and highlighting the power of the work you and so many orgs are doing with the help of our horse heroes!
As the winning therapy horse, Jewel—and her human friends—will receive a year’s supply of Nutrena Feed horse feed, a $250 gift card to Tractor Supply Co., and more! Thank you to everyone who entered! And thank you to Nutrena Feed and Tractor Supply Co. for supporting Hope in the Saddle and putting together an awesome prize package!
