End of Season Letter

For the first time in 12 years, we slowed the season down on purpose. We invested in completing outstanding infrastructure projects, program development, and pre- and post-course curriculum to build the foundation for growth. Sixteen men came through the gates. Fourteen stayed the whole way through. That’s fourteen men who chose the harder path to know thyself. It was a season of real growth and transformation. Through our data-capture project with the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust, we identified specific areas to strengthen the program’s effectiveness and long-term outcomes, namely our pre-course and post-course structure. Building out the pre-course program meant the men arrived at the ranch better prepared for the journey ahead, paving the way for deeper connections and a clearer understanding of the mission ahead: returning to oneself, whole and heart-centered. Since launching the “Stay the Course” 12-month program, the data coming in from the men has been profound; a framework beyond the 41 days is essential for long-term success. When the men leave the ranch, many describe it like coming back from deployment. Questions loom: How do I explain what I experienced? How do I bring this into my life without disrupting my family?

An important thing about this program: we provide the framework, the tools, and the container, but the men do the work themselves. We are not a rescue outfit; we empower individuals who are ready to face themselves. We don’t tell people how to think or feel; we help them find their own solutions and their own measures of success. One of the most powerful, nonlinear parts of the course is self-actualization. Without it, change isn’t possible. Change only comes when we find the courage to face ourselves, go into the deep spaces of the heart and soul, and transmute what has attached to us like a parasite. These men laid it all on the line: their hearts, their souls, their courage, perseverance, and unwavering dedication to the unknown. They met every challenge head-on. It’s hard to put into words the transformation from the day they walked through the gates to their last day with us. I can tell you with certainty that these men are changed, sovereign, and whole, for the first time in a long time, and in some cases for the first time ever. They’re going back into the world and thriving. Many bring the program home to their families, introducing their loved ones and community to what resonated with them. I know from being a father to a 9-year-old daughter that it’s not what you say to your kids so much as what you do, how you live, and what you show them. One of the most powerful things any human can do is go home and love their family. These men are doing it!

Our second year of the “Healing Through Tradition” youth program was a tremendous success. We had eight youth participants, ages 14 to 18, on the ranch. As an organization, we focus on the whole family unit. When a soldier goes to war, he’s not the only one affected: it’s the children who grow up without a father for long stretches, and the wives who hold everything down while he serves. We apply that same 360-degree approach to healing to the family unit. Alongside the veterans’ sons, we had four youth participants from Project Rousseau, which serves families with the greatest need, many coming from war-torn countries in search of safety and a path forward. What these families have endured is heart-wrenching. The youth program uses timeless wisdom, tradition, and experience to expose these young men to a side of life they may never have witnessed before. We aim to plant the seeds and hold the space for growth. Youth today face challenges that didn’t exist when I was a kid in the ’80s: the rise of technology and the replacement of real experience with an endless pursuit of knowledge that goes nowhere. Worse, it’s being replaced not by knowledge but by “content,” pre-packaged narratives that don’t come from inside oneself but from forces designed to keep us small, disconnected, and far from our true purpose. Purpose has to be a conclusion of one’s own soul. I can’t tell someone what their purpose is, and they can’t tell me mine. What I witnessed this season brought real joy to my heart: young men finding themselves, doing hard things, asking what kind of man they want to be, and how they want to show up for their community. We honor these young men and their families for having the courage to move beyond trauma and old stories, toward reclaiming their dignity. When I was in the army, someone once asked me who my hero was. I’d say, “All my heroes are dead.” I don’t believe that anymore. I am my hero in my own story, and these young men and their families are my heroes too. I’m a better man, a better father, and a better steward of this organization because of them.

This August, eight women completed the Resilient Heart Spouse Program at the Double H Ranch by stepping into the unknown and embracing it with hearts and minds courageously wide open. Through the power of the practices we use at HH, they faced the parts of themselves they have long struggled to love, which allowed for their internal landscapes to be transformed. Often this is an uncomfortable, messy, yet beautiful and liberating experience that invites each woman to be present with what is, even when what is feels less than desirable. Whether it’s the extremes of the sauna or cold, baring your soul, singing in front of others, climbing a mountain before the sun rises, riding your horse on edges through the Rocky Mountains, or immersing with the wildness of nature, these experiences are designed to take the individual to the edges of what is comfortable and known. They reveal who we are in the unknown through the rising of sensation within, delivering what is needed rather than what is wanted. This awakens and enlivens us from the inside out, allowing us to be present with ourselves in a way that is honest, grounded, and deeply felt. While the true integrative work begins now that they are back home, they return grounded in the remembrance of their self-worth, equipped with the tools to continue the journey home to themselves, bring truth and love into their most intimate relationships, and help to restore harmony within their family dynamics.

Thank you to the class leaders. You are graduates who came back. You didn’t treat the belt buckle as an exit. You returned so the next students wouldn’t have to find the path alone. You know the fear. You know the pride. You hold the standard because someone once held it for you.

To our sponsors, donors, graduates, the families who raised and stood beside them, our staff, students, volunteers, and everyone who shares a post or buys a T-shirt: thank you from the bottom of our hearts. None of this exists in isolation. Every gift, every share, every shirt, every horse ridden is the same living thing, and that collective keeps this organization going. You don’t just support the work. You are the work. You make it possible for staff, students, graduates, and volunteers to show up, grow, belong, and pass it forward.

We see you. We are grateful for you. We will keep stewarding what you’ve entrusted to us with everything we have. Regardless of what the world is doing, we will always 180 out. The Heroes and Horses organization will never go silently into the night. We stand strong to empower veterans, youth, and their families to reclaim the dignity of the human experience. Growth dies when we look away. We refuse that smaller life. We keep turning toward the work, toward each other, and toward the truth. We could not, and cannot, do this without all of you.

In closing, this world can feel strange at times, with all the noise and perceived doom and gloom we face today. Perspective is everything. In your darkest hour, know that you are not alone; you are special, and you are a gift to this world. All of us are meant to live a life of love, passion, and purpose. It won’t all be hearts and rainbows; nobody said it would be easy. We will always have struggles and hardships to endure; it’s the human condition. What I want you to know is that it doesn’t have to be endured in silence. We love every one of you. We are here for you, and we know you are here for us. We are a tribe!

With gratitude and the deepest amount of love possible,

Jason Laramore
Program Director