About Operation Wild Horse
Built by the people it serves.
Operation Wild Horse started where the need was personal — and it has stayed that way ever since.
Where It Started
We built the place we needed.
Operation Wild Horse launched in 2017 as a program of Veterans R&R, a 501(c)(3), on the grounds of the Bull Valley Equestrian Center in Illinois. It was created by the ones that serve and protect who knew the distance between coming home and feeling at home — and who built what they wished had existed when they needed it most.
“When I took the first step, I knew many others should also.”
Why Wild Horses
A wild horse doesn’t care about your rank.
It responds to presence. To calm. To the truth of what you’re actually feeling, not the version you show the world. That honesty is the whole point. Working alongside a wild horse creates conditions for healing that words alone rarely reach, and doing it beside your family reconnects people in ways a waiting room never could.
The Team of Three
Every session, a team of three.
The participant. An equine expert who knows the wild horse. And the wild horse itself, a full member of the team. Three roles, one mission, every single session.
The ones who serve and protect
You. The one the whole session is built around.
Equine expert
Knows the wild horse. Keeps every session safe and true.
The wild horse
A full member of the team. The honest mirror.