Up Close: Saddle Up to De-Stress

Tammi Wilson ’90 had her sights set on a teaching career when she graduated from Furman with a degree in English. A tough job market at the time led her down a different path – retail and management. About three decades later, she’s finally teaching. But instead of using textbooks and a whiteboard, she uses horses.

Wilson founded Living Hope Equine Therapy, a nonprofit outside of Dallas, Texas, that provides therapeutic riding and horsemanship lessons to people with cognitive, physical and emotional challenges, including veterans with anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“It’s a very close-knit community; it’s a brotherhood,” Wilson says. “When people come out of the military, there isn’t a great way for them to integrate back into civilian life.”

Helping veterans is personal: Wilson’s father was a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force. Helping people with cognitive and physical challenges is personal, too: Wilson’s brother is cognitively challenged and schizophrenic.

“The stress on a family, I’ve lived it,” she says. “It (is a diagnosis that) can tear families apart. Thankfully, mine is super strong.”

Wilson has always loved horses and after moving to Texas in 2009, she immersed herself in them. That’s when she learned about equine therapy and how horses can provide profound physical and emotional benefits to people who interact with them.

“Studies have proven that a horse can reduce your heart rate, put you at peace,” she says. “You’re with an animal who can sense you. You learn real, real quick that if I want to have a successful session, I have to calm myself down. I have to be present with this animal and let all those pressures and stressors go.”

Combine those benefits with a supportive community of veterans helping veterans, and you have a winning combination, Wilson says.

Beyond veterans, those benefits also help families and caretakers of people with cognitive, physical or emotional challenges, as it helps them de-stress and release their anxiety, too.

Living Hope Equine Therapy has grown quickly since its start in January 2023. It has gone from six lessons a week to 30 and two horses to six. The nonprofit has served 40 clients, who learn riding skills and the responsibility that comes with caring for horses. Clients who are able also can compete in up to 10 horse shows throughout the year.

“It’s super cool watching their families. I mean the tears and the miracles – all these things happen as they watch their loved one be able to get ribbons, get trophies, high-five their teammates,” Wilson says. “It’s something a lot of them thought they’d never see.”

Wilson also has had an opportunity to revisit the skills from her English degree in a way she never expected. She does a lot of grant writing, so far earning eight for her nonprofit even though she was told not to expect any in her first couple of years.

“My English degree is coming in handy,” she says. “I’m thankful to Furman for those writing skills that have stuck with me all these years.”