At Elite Vocations, a non-profit located in Nipomo, a 10-week vocational horsemanship training program allows veterans to learn the necessary skills required in the equine industry while also helping them heal.
For the past five years, Yvette D’Unienville and her husband have been working in the equine assistance therapy field and they are hoping to make a difference by helping local veterans.
Their new vocational horsemanship program has a dual purpose of helping veterans with their trauma while teaching them horse-handling skills necessary for a job in the equine industry.
“We’ve really seen how much horses can do for people that have experienced trauma, but on top of that, you know, housing is such a big issue for veterans, especially the Central Coast, so we found a way with this program to be able to give them the therapeutic benefit of working with horses while also providing them employable skills because of a lot of jobs in the equine industry come with housing,” D’Unienville explained.
Trey Gonzales, a Marine Corps veteran from Santa Maria, has been helping other veterans in need through The Echo Group and was offered the opportunity to try out the vocational program for himself.
“The end goal here is somebody is going to pay us to do what we’re all learning to love and I think, at first, it was kind of like excited to be back around horses again because before the Marine Corps, I was around horses all the time as a kid. I grew up around ranch life, so it was a good kind of return to get back to it,” Gonzales said.
Identifying and adapting to a horse's behavior is one of the first lessons participants learn when they are interacting with them one-on-one.
“The biggest challenge is really controlling our emotions. Same goes for these guys. I mean, they’re very much like us. They’re racehorses, they’re kind of cagey, they're kind of untrusting of people. It’s been controlling our own self and own thoughts so that the horse isn’t mirroring that,” Gonzales said.
Giving back to veterans that have made an impact has made this program rewarding for the staff onsite.
“We really feel so fortunate. My husband and I are both from Africa and we’ve lived here for the past three years and it’s just so rewarding to be able to help the veterans that have given so much to this country,” D’Unienville said.
The Elite Vocations vocational horsemanship program is limited to six participants at a time and is free to all veterans.
Veterans that complete the program will earn an internationally-recognized certificate.
