A Great Sunday Session October 31st

Here Kristy is working on the use of core muscles and leg aids to guide her mount through poles

One of our active duty participants using 100% determination to work on his horseback skills prior to his next deployment.

2010 NM Veterans' Wellness Conference

Cowboy Up! staff and participants attended the Veterans' Wellness Conference Clinicians Day on Friday, October 29th, 2010 - An integrative approach to treating veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sec. John Garcia's vision to bring a wellness center for PTSD here to NM based on the Fort Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center's innovative treatment program consisting of integrated state-of-the-art treatment modalities is exciting and necessary to say the least.

Senior Military Affairs Advisor to Horses For Heroes Cowboy Up! Program, General George Franzen, USAF ret., speaking about Sgt. Andrew Brandi's book The Warrior's Guide To Insanity. A copy was provided to every veteran!

Day two was Veterans' and Family Day where we had the chance to meet many of those who have served our country and offer them a chance to see what our program is all about by meeting some of our four legged instructors and watching demonstrations by some of our program participants - the response was superb. We were also honored to have spent a part of the afternoon with a visit from Cabinet Secretary John Garcia, his endorsement was inspirational to our hardworking staff and program participants.

Welcome Range Radio our newest program partner!

We are proud to welcome Range Radio our newest program partner. Range Radio on line 24-7 and in the Santa Ynez, California area on AM 1410 is the brainchild of former New Mexican Bruce Pollock. Pollock's innovative programing has combined real country with real western and is sweeping the nation's internet waves. Pollock has produced a 60 second Public Service Announcement featuring our program that is airing throughout the month of October. We are deeply grateful to this broadcasting visionary and his assistance in helping our program and our combat warriors.
Range Radio is just a click away through our links. Happy Trails.

Fall Work & A Purple Wild Rag For A New Cowboy

The crisp mornings of October brings us to fall cattle work on our program partner ranches in Santa Fe County. Gathering, sorting, vaccinating and branding remnants prior to weaning and shipping made the many early mornings for our Cowboy UP! staff and veterans worthwhile.We were also pleased to present a Cowboy UP! graduate with a purple wild rag symbolizing his completion of many months of hard work culminating with his going out with us to do the fall cattle gather and working. The purple wildrag is both practical as a piece of working gear that keeps you warm while horseback on those frosty mornings and symbolic as it represents our partnership with not only the Military Order of the Purple Heart but with the fraternity of cowboys everywhere.

Photo by:Connie Jo Mitchell

Photo by:Connie Jo Mitchell

Photo by:Connie Jo Mitchell

Photo by:Connie Jo Mitchell

Photo by:Connie Jo Mitchell

General Loree Sutton MD visits Cowboy UP! Program

Brigadier General Loree K. Sutton, M.D. Director, who is the highest ranking psychiatrist in the U.S. Army, has served as director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) since November 2007. She also serves as special assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. We were honored to have her visit us and spend time here at the Crossed Arrows Ranch. Loree was excited about our program and the positive changes she witnessed first hand with our Cowboy UP! program participants. She will retire in November and we expect to see a lot more of her here at the ranch.


Above: Cowboy coffee around the campfire;L to R Sgt Andrew Brandi USMC, author of "The Warriors Guide to Insanity", Brigadier General Loree Sutton MD, former Green Beret and Cowboy UP! Director, Rick Iannucci, NM Commander Pete Comstock, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Cowboy UP! staff instructor GY Sgt Carl Hawkins, USMC ret.

Below: "Family photo"; L to R, Pete Comstock, Carl Hawkins, Avery Strickland, Rick Iannucci, Kristi LaFrance on Sokee, Nancy De Santis, Andrew Brandi, Loree Sutton