Healing Journeys: Mules for Veterans & First Responders
Healing Mules Therapy pairs steady, patient mules with veterans and first responders living with PTSD — offering a proven path toward calm, connection, and recovery, one visit at a time.
We also provide support to Seniors.
Why Mules?
Mules are famously patient, perceptive, and steady under pressure — qualities that mirror what our participants need most. Their calm presence and non-judgmental company help regulate the nervous system, rebuild trust, and open space for healing that talk therapy alone doesn't always reach.
Every mule in our herd is gently trained and matched to each participant's pace, ensuring a safe, grounded experience from the very first visit.
Interested in Providing Mule Therapy?
Providing mule therapy services to veterans and nursing home residents starts with building genuine partnerships rather than simply offering a program. We can begin by connecting with local VA facilities, veteran service organizations, and nursing home activity directors to understand each community's specific needs, mobility considerations, and comfort levels around animals. From there, well-trained, gentle mules can be introduced gradually—through supervised grooming, leading, and quiet companionship sessions. Participants build trust and confidence at their own pace. For veterans, this kind of animal-assisted therapy often helps with PTSD symptoms, anxiety, and emotional regulation by offering a calm, non-judgmental presence and a sense of purposeful responsibility. For nursing home residents, low-key mule visits can improve mood, encourage light physical movement, and spark meaningful conversation and memory recall, especially for those with rural or farming backgrounds.
Need more info?
How the Program Works
Connect with a Mule
Participants are paired with a mule matched to their temperament and comfort level, starting with simple grooming and groundwork.
Learn About Mules
We bring our mules to your site. Get to know our mules, learn about care and tack, and understand what to look for when caring for mules.
Build Trust & Heal
Over weeks of consistent sessions, participants report reduced anxiety, better sleep, and renewed connection with family and community.
Thank You To Our Sponsor
My Story
Saved for a Reason: From Broken Neck to Healing Veterans
On a freezing November morning in 2021, I fell from my deer stand while climbing down early from a hunt on my Illinois farm. As I fell, I heard God ask if I was ready for death, and I said yes. I don't remember hitting the ground, but when I came to about an hour later, I was paralyzed from the neck down. I prayed that if God got me out of there, I'd spend my life serving Him and helping others. Feeling slowly returned, and I belly-crawled to a tree, pulled myself up, and walked nearly a mile home despite what turned out to be a fractured C6 vertebra, a broken T12, crushed discs, and internal injuries. A doctor later told me I shouldn't have been able to walk out of there, and that God clearly had plans for me.
I spent three months in a body harness and neck brace while my body healed on its own rather than through surgery. Through the pain, I kept praying for strength and for the chance to care for my family again — and gradually, I recovered enough to walk, talk, and live fully. Months later, I woke in the night convinced God had spoken to me, telling me to take my mules and bring love and happiness into people's lives. The next day I called my local VA hospital to offer my mules for veteran therapy visits, and the woman I spoke with told me they'd never gotten a call like that before and that they needed it.
Since then, my mules have become part of a therapy program that brings comfort and connection to veterans and hospital staff, and I've seen firsthand how much joy and peace these visits create. I grew up in a military family and watched my Uncle Bill, a WWII veteran, carry the weight of war for the rest of his life — he found peace mostly in quiet moments like fishing, and I wish I'd been able to help him more. Now, through my mules, I feel like I finally can help people like him, which is why I hope others in the equine community will join in supporting therapy programs at VA hospitals, children's hospitals, and nursing homes. I made a promise to God on that hillside, and every visit my mules make is me keeping it.
Help Us Keep the Herd Growing
Your donation provides feed, veterinary care, and trained specialists so more veterans and first responders can begin their healing journey with our herd.