Sixteen veterans with various problems in their lives have benefited by working with horses at Ananda Farms, New Tripoli.

Andrea Swift said her father, Major Michael St. Angelo, U.S. Army ret., helped her understand what military personnel face as they try to return to civilian life. St. Angelo is now working in the National Reconnaissance office of the Department of Defense.Swift was a special education teacher in Upper Perkiomen Valley School District.Between them they designed a way to help veterans transition to civilian life through horses. After some research, Swift found Eagala, an organization in which horses are used in Equine Facilitated Learning.She trained at Willow Brook horse farm, Catasauqua, under Peter Fuller and Jason Zulli. The latter occasionally came to Ananda Farms in addition to the classes at Willow Brook.She has the highest praise for Peter Fuller."He taught me so much. I was making progress," she said.Although she knew what to do, she had difficulty making contact with veterans that could benefit from the assistance.She contacted Congressman Charles Dent and the connection was made with Wilkes-Barre Veterans Hospital which holds group therapy sessions. It was Marian Skomsky, of the hospital recreation department as a social worker and counselor, who said she would bring people to the Horses Helping Heroes program.The response to the first group, which included veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, issues of low self esteem or social isolation was so beneficial that Skomsky wants to bring some people with substance abuse issues. Some served as long ago as the Korean conflict.They learn to take responsibility for their own well-being including living a healthy lifestyle and to engage in meaningful activities (many are on disability).When bad weather makes it difficult to have outdoor sessions, Kathy Fields of Flint Hill Farms, Center Valley, has offered to donate the use of her indoor facility, using Swift's transported horses and allowing them to use some of her own animals.One of the favored projects in the first session was learning to hitch a pair of Belgians. Natural horsemanship is taught in the round pen.The horses are so sensitive to emotions, said Swift. Working in groups they set up jumps as an obstacle and had to get the horse to jump without ropes, halters, touch or whips.One man was working with a Kiger Mustang, a breed that seems more in tune to human emotions than others. He was getting increasingly frustrated. The man was calmed down and told to try talking to her. She responded.The hospital pays for liability insurance and training materials for the monthly sessions.Swift volunteers her time and the use of the horses because "they gave so much to us."You connect things about horses to what's going on in their lives," said Swift.They packed lunches and stayed at the farm to eat, with no sense of urgency to return to Wilkes-Barre.