Henry’s Home and Horse Sanctuary

As the mother of a soldier who is deployed in Iraq, Stedman said she felt a strong pull to help veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder upon returning home by using the horses to provide a therapeutic experience. 

She said the organization started having more veterans work with the horses, which led her to seek a partnership with the Wounded Warriors Equestrian Program.

The program partners with horse rescues to benefit both the riders and the animals, Stedman said.

“There’s such a symbiotic relationship between the healing of the horses and the healing of the [veterans],” she said.

When veterans and their families come to ride or work with the horses, the sanctuary allows them to do so at no charge. The nonprofit uses proceeds from other riders to cover the costs of care and boarding for the horses.

One of the goals for the sanctuary is to find a permanent home that the organization can own and use as a retreat center.

“Our goal is to have this be a place where all the local nonprofits can come out, get involved with our sanctuary horses—the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the different equine therapy groups—pretty much any of the nonprofits,” Stedman said. “If they want to have their fundraisers out there, we want to be able to provide that.”