VETERANS AND MUSTANGS — Dale and Renee Lackey are owners of the DLR Mustang Ranch in Salineville, where area veterans and first responders can come and train with wild mustangs as a way to help with anxiety and PTSD. — Julie Stenger

WINTERSVILLE — Improving the lives of veterans returning home from the military suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder was the focus of the Wintersville Woman’s Club’s October meeting.

The members gathered at St. Florian Event Center where they heard from the afternoon’s guest speaker, Dale Lackey, who along with his wife Renee started the DLR Mustang Ranch in Salineville. Lackey started the program in 2019, a year after he himself was part of a similar program a year earlier in Texas.

Lackey explained the importance of being able to offer these services to veterans and first responders, explaining that the ranch is a space where these men and women who once served in the military can heal by building a relationship with mustangs.

“By building a relationship with the mustang, the veteran can learn new ways to communicate and overcome obstacles they face on a daily basis,” Lackey began. “Wild mustangs in prison have been displaced and are no longer in control. Everything is foreign to them because they are out of their element. Veterans can often relate to what a mustang goes through, as they have difficulty assimilating into society after their service in our country.”

“The relationship and trust that Mustangs and veterans develop breaks down walls and teaches veterans how to communicate without words,” Lackey told his audience. “A wild mustang is a mirror image of the veteran and forces them to control their emotions and be aware of their body language. They often have a switch and working with mustangs will turn it into a dial to control their thoughts and emotions. It gives them an alternative way to deal with stress.”

Lackey, an Army veteran and paramedic, joined the military after high school and served 10 years. He found a Texas program to participate in, where he was paired with a pristine wild horse, and had to acquire that horse to earn his trust. Having to learn to communicate with this horse in its language.

Lackey said 85 percent is about gestures — how people carry their shoulders, roll their eyes, are filled with heartbreak. Horses sense these things through these types of body language, Lackey explained, saying they base their approach to us off of that. That in turn teaches us how to control ourselves, he noted. Lackey brought that program back to Ohio and started a ranch with his wife.

The ranch is open to the public to see how the program works and to meet some of the animals, including Sadie, one of 42 horses Lackey has at home.

The Christian organization is free to veterans and first responders struggling with anxiety and PTSD. This is where God wants Lackey to be at this point, the rancher said, adding that he trusts God for everything.

He noted that he makes $18 an hour at his job, which is certainly not enough to fund an entire ranch and program. But it works. He stated he had covid and was hospitalized for 45 days, with doctors saying he would die after 15 days on a ventilator.

“God had other plans for me” Lackey stated. “He keeps pushing me forward.” He noted that he had cancer and that there was not much hope for a future. So he had surgery. He was told he would not be returning to work after the surgery. Somehow he proved both of these theories wrong. He even beat those odds eight months ahead of schedule, he said. Lackeys even participates in getting miniature horses to become service animals, as he informed club members that they are part of a study being done at the University of Alabama.

Lackey explained that there were 500 applicants for the Texas program he attended. Only five seats were available. All the positions were filled when he applied, he continued. The last applicant was dropped from the program and Lackey was put in his place. Again, Lackey said, God put him where he was supposed to be.

As for the man who was taken out of the program to make way for Lackey … he was given first place in Lackey’s program when it started the following year.

“We have all kinds of therapy animals at our ranch,” he concluded. He listed turkeys, chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, cats and dogs as some of the animals kept in their homes.

Those interested in learning more about the ranch or applying to be a part of the program can contact the couple by calling (740) 491-7427 or by email at [email protected]

Visit the ranch’s Facebook page at DLR Mustang Ranch.