TAYLORSVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — One veterans organization is making sure we don't forget about the children in military families whose parents have made sacrifices for their country.
On Saturday, the Veteran's Club organized an equine session for military children in Taylorsville.
Mattie Hauswald is only 15 years old, and has a love for horses.
She's spent countless hours working with them.
"I didn't know I was going to get in a workout today too," said Mattie Hauswald.
As a daughter of a veteran, it made sense to show other kids who have parents in the military just how therapeutic working with horses can be. Especially because she knows first hand how difficult it is at times.
"I feel like being able to relate to other kids, and knowing that I'm not the only one that feels that way, and realizing it makes it a lot easier to process that," said Hauswald.
Many of the kids like Kyleigh Elder had no experience with horses, but by the end of the day they knew they wanted to come back and learn more
"Your horse is like your friend and you got to walk around with them all day," said Elder. "Like you were the leader, leading them around the course, and they would follow you no matter what you said.
Jeremy Harrell is the chairmen of the Veteran's Club, and he says it's lessons like this that will stick with these kids and empower them in the future.
"It allows them to be able to relax and engage, and get to the root cause of some of the issues they are facing," said Harrell.
