NJVH-017: Miss Molly's Story, The Short Version

This video is the short version of Miss Molly’s story. We worked hard to create a way to tell her story in under 5mins to submit to The Dodo. We did so on 8/24/22 and for several months have attempted to follow-up without ever confirming if our submission was even received. So, while the folks over @TheDodo may not agree, we DO believe that Miss Molly has an incredible, true, miraculous story to share! Therefore, we will launch it here – on our tiny barely noticeable channel for The Herd. Launching this in May 2023 to help bring awareness to our need for Veterans Programming funding at Operation Horse/Spring Reins of Life. As part of the Seen Through Horses Campaign 2023 we are putting this video out there to show the power of horses to be healed and to heal. Thank you, Miss Molly! Xo
HELP us fundraise for Veterans in NJ at Operation Horse: https://www.classy.org/team/495361
#njvhmissmolly #springreinsoflife #horsesformentalhealth #traumarecovery #killpenrescue #therapyanimal #veterans #newjerseyveterans #horsesthatheal #ptsd #suicideprevention

The first time I saw Miss Molly was on a cool Saturday morning of October 6, 2016. She arrived with 5 other horses who had been rescued from the kill pens in Kaufman, TX to a horse trainer where we shared a facility in Hillsborough, NJ. Upon stepping off the trailer the shipper handed the lead rope over saying “whatever happens, do not take this horse’s halter off” …which was the first sign that the mare’s description was misleading. Advertised as “Hip tag #7479, 16h Palomino mare, well broke, sweet, friendly, sound, solid and sane”, there stood a thin, wide-eyed, hyper-vigilant, traumatized large Palomino who clearly had endured her own type of warzone from humans. As time traveled to the winter months, we noticed that while horse people had a hard time getting near Molly, the PTSd Veterans that attended our Operation Horse program at Spring Reins of Life could innocently walk up to her and pet her on the face.
On April 1, 2017, Miss Molly unofficially joined our Herd and moved with us to Hunt Cap Farms in Three Bridges NJ. My first moments in handling this mare were to back her off of a trailer in the pouring rain, with my heart pounding as I breathed deeply, I asked her to step back off the trailer and get us both safely to the ground, and we would figure out the rest one step at a time. She did so.
The next several months were spent giving Molly the space to find her way back towards feeling safe and building trust. This included patience, consistency, routine, and interaction without an agenda attached. She had professional help from Dr. Shoemaker DVM to erase the central nervous system reflexes to bite or strike (the hind kicking involved too much danger to work on, yet at least she became safe to handle in the front end). Fortunately for us, Dr. Maria Katsamani PsyD who co-facilitates Operation Horse is also a skilled horse trainer who has a specialty in gentling traumatized and abused horses helped her a great deal towards accepting a new way of interacting with humans. We did get her halter off (and on again).
Over time Molly traveled a long journey out of hell and onto her road of healing and recovery, she had a lot of support yet the last few hardest miles she had to make on her own. Ultimately it was the Veterans we work with who helped her reach the highest steps in her recovery. She could feel safe with them because their minds spoke the same silent language of PTSd. She does still have her triggers yet has learned to manage them in a way that is far less traumatic to herself or others. Consistently when working she will engage or approach the MOST internally wounded Veteran in our groups in a way to take them with her to a place of acceptance and feeling safe.
In November 2019, we were presented with a plaque from the New Jersey Department of Veteran Affairs which states: “The 2019 Therapy Animal of the Year – Miss Molly” which is fitting in that as NJ Veterans opened a door to save her life, She has returned the favor many times. We are so proud of this mare. Molly is proof that no life is so far gone that it cannot be saved, and that, Love is the greatest healer of all.

Miss Molly, The Golden Girl
Christianna Capra “CC”, ES at SRoL, Molly’s handler
Maria Katsamanis PsyD, MHP at SRoL, Molly’s trainer
Judith M. Shoemaker DVM, Always Helpful Veterinary Services

Team Molly:
Kerry Nagrod, Mindy Drake, Darlene Hengeli, Stephen Cherry, Phyllis Nunan, Laura Quick, Diane McMahon, Jessica Docar

Veterans Pictured with Molly:
Stephen Cherry, US Air Force Veteran
Angel Aponte, 1st Sergeant/Drill Sergeant US Army Veteran
Gerald Aponte, US Marine Corps/US Army Veteran
Ray Quesnel, US Marine Corps, Vietnam Combat Veteran
Barbara J. Arndt, US Marine Corps Veteran