When I was choosing a school to attend for college, the one thing I wanted in a school was to be able to have my car on campus (I honestly don’t think I could live without it) and the therapeutic horsemanship major. I found so many nice schools that allowed me to have cars on campus, but my school is the only one that I found that has the therapeutic horsemanship major that is in my home state. I’m so excited that this is my major.

I know it might sound crazy that I want to work with horses for the rest of my life, but I have a goal that goes with it: I hope to change the world in the mental health areas. I want to specifically work with those that are/were in the military and, even more specifically, those that have PTSD. I’ve been fortunate enough to take classes that allow me to work with disabled children and it’s been the best eye-opening experience. I love watching the children grow as a person, as well as a rider. I’m currently doing a case study for another class, which is required for the therapeutic horsemanship major, which is really cool because it allows me to delve a little deeper into his mental state and capacity.

Within the therapeutic horsemanship, there’s the instructor concentration and the administration concentration. I decided to go with the instructor concentration because I want to be able to physically help people and see the progress while working with each person. I love to see my riders grow and expand.

I know it may not seem like much, but therapeutic riding is extremely helpful and the field is growing as a whole. I’m super proud to say that I’m a therapeutic horsemanship major and I’m proud to say that I’ll be working with people who’ll need me someday.