Between Horses and Humans youth nonprofit in Carson Valley seeks community input
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Sun, 11/26/2023 - 4:00pm
Between Horses and Humans, a local Carson Valley youth-oriented nonprofit that empowers children and youth through building leadership and communication skills, trust, courage, and compassion by pairing them with horses to connect them with their own authentic and capable selves. Survey responses will help the organization with strategic planning to better serve the community.
The survey can be accessed here.
Gary Gleason, co-president for the BHH board of directors, said Between Horses and Humans allows youth to learn how to problem solve and develop new strategies to help them cope with challenging life situations and experience a happier, healthier, more productive future.
“Our participants find solace and progress through their connection with the horses,” said Gleason. “Through perseverance and bonding with the animals, their confidence and courage soar, resulting in improved school grades and overall personal growth.”
Gleason said the relationship youth develop with the horses, and the life lessons they provide, including understanding that each horse, and each person, has its personality, strengths, and quirks, translate to improved relationships and outcomes in their own lives.
“BHH is not merely about personal triumphs — it's about the power of community and compassion,” he said. “Our participants comfort and support each other, fostering a rare sense of empathy and connection in today's world. Through these shared experiences, individuals gain a sense of responsibility, develop leadership skills, and discover their courage and confidence.”
Gleason’s journey to BHH began, as with most of the BHH staff, board and volunteers, with a lifelong love of horses and a desire to work with children. He said he has seen amazing transformations in children who participate in BHH classes and workshops.
“One of our students was 12 or 13, in foster care, and one of his siblings got adopted,” Gleason said. “He was angry. He came through our program and went from a kid who was bitter about life to a young man who worked his way through college, joined a nonprofit board that works to change the foster care system, and bought a house. Another girl was nonverbal when she came to us, and she now is serving with two nonprofits.”
BHH is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization governed by a board of directors. The organization depends on grants and community donations to operate and 100% of all donations go to operating the program, which includes medical care, feed and stable fees for the horses. Participants learn to feed and care for the horses, in addition to learning to ride as part of their course curriculum.
“There's something magical and mystical about working with horses,” Gleason said. “Whether it's courage, whether it's confidence, whether it's controlling negative emotion in terms of anger or something like that, when you're able to work with a 1200-pound animal, there's a partnership there. And what I tell the kids is this partnership also needs a leader, that horse is looking for a leader. And that makes them experience feeling important. It’s the best feeling in the world."
Click here to take the BHH Community Needs Assessment Survey.
Between Horses and Humans provides a welcoming, non-judgmental place for children and youth to set aside the labels and challenges of their everyday lives, giving them a unique opportunity to connect with their own authentic and capable selves, as they learn to handle and care for the horses. At the BHH barn, in the presence of our horse and human facilitators, students can begin to feel peace and understand balance. Over time, they develop new strategies to help them cope with challenging life situations and experience a happier, healthier, more productive future.
