500 Miles
The purpose of this innovative short film is to start a new, universally-understood conversation around the necessity of struggle, challenge and perseverance as they relate to creating meaning in one's life - without one, you cannot have the other.
The 500 Miles film communicates the importance of this concept by telling the story of the un-purposed wild mustang and the un-purposed veteran, following both as they learn to face and navigate challenges, with the ultimate goal of discovering what their greater purpose in life is.
For these mustangs, the arduous 500 mile journey through New Mexico and Arizona was their purpose-defining challenge, but we all have our own version of a "500 mile journey". It's the moments in life when we choose to buck up instead of give up. When we choose to take the unbeaten path instead of the easy road. It's the moments that force us to take a hard look at ourselves, and the decisions we have been making, and decide if we have been letting life happen to us, or for us.
SO, THE QUESTION IS: WHAT'S YOUR 500?
WHAT’S YOUR 500?
The purpose of the "What's Your 500?" movement is to start a conversation around the relationship between challenge, perseverance, and purpose.
We all have a "500" - it's a seemingly insurmountable challenge that is presented to us, and that moment where we choose to push forward, instead of give up. Pushing forward is never easy. What is "easy" is turning to crutches like drugs, alcohol, anger, isolation, etc. But for anyone who has ever taken the easy route (and pretty much all of us have at one point) you know that it never really takes you where you want to go.
Below are the "500" stories of four individuals: a veteran and the overwhelming challenges that he faced post-service, a father who lost his daughter, a man battling cancer and depression, and a wife who lost her husband (a veteran) to an overdose. Why are we doing this? Because every single person has a "500 mile journey", and the more we talk about it, and share our stories of perseverance, the greater chance we have of helping someone who has run out of hope.
Our mission at Heroes and Horses is to apply this framework to helping our country's veterans - but, it's important to understand that this is not just a veteran story, it's just not a horse story - it's a people story.