Good morning Israel!
Horses For Heroes Cowboy Up! goes International.
We were asked to make presentations in Israel ...
It all started with this long friendship of two military servicemen almost 40 years ago.
Yoav and Rick today.
A special Easter in Jerusalem.
Horse cops in New Jerusalem.
Our first adventure was a wonderful cattle ranch owned by an Israeli SEAL veteran...
...to view Israeli IDF veterans working their
home grown "Craig Cameron X treme" obstacle course.
It began with a practice period.
Everyone warms up and desensitizes, as necessary,
their horses to the obstacles.
The idea is to go through while mounted.
Next is a clothesline with rags that flap in the wind
~ to see if your horse is unflappable!
A tetter-totter with unsure squishy footing
~ a challenging foam interior.
Barrels to the left background, logs in the right
background, and tractor tires in the foreground.
A water pit with plastic bottle challenge.
Practice ends and friendly competition begins!
The photo of the day!
While there we met
Udi and his lovely family who is
doing wonderful work bringing the healing of horses
to children with sever disabilities through cart riding.
We stopped into Yoav's tack and saddle shop In Natanya and
look who we found...
And outside posted was our horse 'Hollywood's' cousin!
Covered round pen envy!
A nice visit with a Corporate Team Facilitator who
brings the magic of horses to corporate learning.
Israeli IDF lawn ornament on the Golan Syrian border.
Israeli cows. Keeping it Kosher!
Golan Heights Kibbutz/Ranch manger, Israeli Reserve Officer and Cowboy.
We are working with him to bring a version of our program to Israel
for IDF Reservists and veterans.
Take it seriously, mines still are a danger...just make sure the cows don't wander in!
The "hipster mustache" is even in Israel.
We stopped for a cappuccino before our meeting with
Dr.
Itamar Barnea, NATAL’s chief psychologist
Click the photo above for larger version to read. National pride and respect for their veteran community is incredible.
Col. Barnea (2nd from right) is the chief psychologist and a certified supervisor in
psychotherapy for NATAL, Israel’s Trauma and Resilience Center. He was a
combat pilot during his military service in the Yom Kippur War and was shot
down in Syria leaving him a Prisoner of War (POW). It was an additional treat to meet the
Director of Natal’s Clinical Unit as well, Lieutenant Colonel Saar Uziely (1st from right) ~ they resonated with our decription Of PTSD Post Traumatic Spiritual Dissonance ™
It was an honor to connect with them and worth giving up riding horses in the Golan Heights just to
meet with them and tour their Resilience Center. We learned what they do, as importantly they learned what we do.
They both were fascinated with how we work with horses to heal trauma and to
heal mind, body and soul.
Once again always
on the Cutting Edge!
Our next meeting brought us out to meet Gilad ( Israeli SEAL veteran) who runs a horse riding therapy school. Shown here is the Navajo Nation Flag that we brought to Israel at the request of US MarineVeteran Tyann Nakai. This was part of her project to bring awareness of PTSD and solidarity with our brothers and sisters in arms the world over.
This flag flew over Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan aboard a United States Air Force KC-135R providing combat operations support during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Israeli hospitality is bar-none! The coffee is always on everywhere you go!
Horse of the sea ~ Joppa.
