July 2013
Vol. 1, No. 2
Taking action. Making connections. Changing lives.
June 2013 Class
To meet the needs of our veterans, we are focusing on
developing a National Center in Saratoga Springs.
Additionally, we’re working to advance the important step
of applying more scientific research to the project.
Our veteran participants continue to be the best measure
of the value of the Connection. Brian, a recent graduate,
reported back to Saratoga WarHorse how the program has
impacted him:
“Since being home, I have been
able to sleep through the night
and have not had the ‘zombie’
feeling where you are tired but
cannot sleep. That started
immediately once I got
home…The experience is
unbelievable.”
Another recent graduate,
Brian, US Navy
Rob, writes, “It is very hard to
Sharon Castro Photography
We've held three classes since our last newsletter, and
veterans attended from as far away as New Mexico and
Arizona and as nearby as Ganesvoort, NY. More positive
feedback from the program participants, their friends and
families, and mental health professionals confirm that the
Connection process is restorative and life-changing. We feel
the essence of Churchill's famous quote in our hearts every
day, "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for
the inside of a man."
Increased exposure of our program led us to schedule an
extra class in July, and our August class is already oversubscribed. The recent re-airing of our ESPN piece, peer-topeer communications among veterans and continually
increasing numbers of articles in newspapers and magazines
has raised awareness, and we are anticipating this to
continue.
to describe without sounding like
I’m nuts but the horse I worked
with told me I was a good man and
that he understood... It was one of
the most spiritual experiences I
have ever had in my life thus far.
Rob, US Coast Guard
I will cherish it all my life.”
Our vision for this program is far-reaching, but we all
believe in it deeply, and our results speak for themselves.
This program works.
the prestigious Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for
Outstanding Public Service Benefiting Local Communities!
The Jefferson Awards are a prestigious national recognition
Saratoga WarHorse
Founder, Bob Nevins, and
some staff members
represented the Capital
Region at the National
Jefferson Awards
Ceremony in Washington,
DC on June 18th. Saratoga
WarHorse was awarded
system honoring
community and
public service in
America. They
began in 1972 to
create a Nobel Prize
for public service.
(www.jeffersonawards.org)
Pictured left to right: Janelle Schmidt, Brian Austin, Melody Squier
and Bob Nevins
CONNECTIONS
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Saratoga WarHorse is excited to share that we have
applied for federal tax exemption as a 501(c)(3) public
charity. We are committed to launch our program into a
growth phase building towards a longer-term goal of
creating a national center in Saratoga Springs that will
be equipped to serve hundreds of veterans each year,
and philanthropic support will be necessary to reach
this goal. If public charity designation is granted by the
IRS, then the full amount of contributions will be
deductible for federal income tax purposes. All of us at
Saratoga WarHorse are excitedly moving into this next
phase of program expansion, and we thank you for
joining us in this meaningful work!
As a pending 501(c)(3) public charity, we are building our
Board leadership. We are excited to introduce our new
Directors of the Board, David Cornell and Anne Campbell,
and our new Secretary, Jim Price.
David Cornell will serve as a Director of
the Board. David, a Certified Financial
Planner and a Certified Special Needs
Advisor, is a Senior Vice President at Merrill
Lynch. David serves families and business
owners in both the Saratoga Springs and
Utica offices. He graduated from the State
University of New York, Plattsburgh, with a David Cornell
B.A. in Sociology. David is an avid horse enthusiast and has
military connections, as his father served for 36 years in the
US Navy. David and his wife, Jennifer, live in Charlton,
New York, with their daughter, Nicole.
Anne Campbell, a long-time
Thoroughbred enthusiast, will serve as a
Director of the Board. Anne has served
on several Boards, including the Race
Track Chaplaincy of New York, United
Way, Green Boundary Club, and Friends
Anne Campbell
of Hopeland Gardens, Historic Aiken
Foundation and many more. She has held volunteer positions
at her church, chaired events such as the Chaplaincy
Breakfast NYRTCA, and has served as President of the
Junior League of Atlanta. Anne is a graduate of Agnes Scott
College, the wife of Cot Campbell (President of Dogwood
Stable, Inc.), the mother of two, grandmother of six and great
grandmother of two. Anne and Cot live in Aiken, South
Carolina.
Jim Price will serve as Secretary. He is a Retired Partner
of McGuireWoods LLP, a law firm in Richmond, VA,
where he had an extensive career in civil-litigation practice.
P.O. Box 461
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
July 2013
A talented team from Fingerpaint Marketing donated
.professional services to help us select new colors and
create a new logo. We are thrilled with the new logo, as
the simple yet pure image, which is reminiscent of the
historical chess knight, connects with our mission and
honors the age-old bond between mankind and horses.
We are very grateful to our team at Fingerpaint!
Jim received his B.A. from Washington
and Lee University and graduated from
University of Richmond Law School,
serving in the US Air Force for four
years in between. Since his retirement,
Jim has been volunteering in a variety
of capacities, including visiting
wounded military service members at
Jim Price
Walter Reed Hospital and at the VA
Hospital in Richmond, VA. In 2008, Jim earned the
Robert M. Freeman Volunteer of the Year Award,
given by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Jim
lives with his wife, Jan, in Richmond, Virginia and they
spend a significant amount of time in Saratoga Springs
throughout the year.
Bob Nevins will also serve as a
Director of the Board in addition to his
role as Executive Director of Saratoga
WarHorse. Bob served in Vietnam as a
medevac pilot for the 101st Airborne
and was wounded in action in 1971. He
also served in the NY National Guard.
In 2011, Bob retired from his 24-year
career as an airline captain to dedicate his
Bob Nevins
efforts full-time to Saratoga WarHorse.
Congratulations to
Anne and Cot
Campbell and their
partners at
Dogwood Stables
on their Belmont
Stakes win!
Photo courtesy of Adam
Coglianese/NYRA
(518) 321-3033
SaratogaWarHorse.com
CONNECTIONS
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July 2013
Erich, US Army National Guard
Melody Squier, Director of Training and
Lead Instructor
Photo Courtesy of Sharon Castro Photography
Photo Courtesy of Skip Dickstein
Valerie Buck keeps Saratoga WarHorses
happy and fit in between classes.
Photo Courtesy of Skip Dickstein/The Blood-Horse
Marilyn Lane, Director of Thoroughbred
Industry Relations and Development
Gino, US Army
I’ve had a successful career, deployed in support of
many operations, including the First Gulf War. If you had
met me before my Connection at Saratoga WarHorse, you
would have thought my life was on track. By all facets of
outward appearance, it was. Yet, now that I look back on
it, I can see there was a prevailing distance.
When I went through my Connection at Saratoga
WarHorse, my mind tracked to my military training at
first; execute as instructed and ensure results. I realized I
ran my personal life like my career; execute as needed,
don’t feel and don’t get connected to what may not last.
The Connection made me stop, breathe and realize that
present moment. In that moment was the chance to feel.
The horse needed me to feel and “to be” in order to
establish our relationship. In that moment, I realized how
I had disconnected from life, people, and beauty…I had
not recognized I had turned that switch off.
The Connection awakened me to how I need to be
present in all areas of my life. The experience taught me
how to be present for others, and it showed me the
difference between “doing”, or providing service, and
P.O. Box 461
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Gordon, US Navy Seal, with Web Gem
“I didn't think I would ever trust anything
again or that anything could ever trust me."
“being”… My Connection brought me back to life. The
Connection experience continues to live and breathe within
me as I gain new insights from my time with Saratoga
WarHorse.
The Sarataga WarHorse instruction, led by Melody
Squier, provided me with keen insight to the workings of
the mind - the need to insert a new slide over a bad
experience, forgiveness over forgetting, ownership for self,
and sharing of self…These were all brought into the
practical need of a horse and a person working together.
Combining race horses with warriors could not be a better
match, as each will come with their own issues, yet each
needs and wants to fit in and feel safe.
Judith
Maloney has
been in the
military for 25
years, and she
currently
serves as a
Lieutenant
Colonel with
the New York
Air National
Guard.
(518) 321-3033
SaratogaWarHorse.com
P.O. Box 461
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
CONNECTIONS Newsletter
July 2013, Vol. 1, No. 2
Taking Action. Making Connections. Changing Lives.
“A further challenge for this amazing
program will be to identify changes within
the brains of the soldiers that underlie
their improved mental health. Although
the magical link that forms between two
disparate species—soldier and horse—is
undeniable, the key to permanent healing
likely lies within the biochemistry
of the brain.”
~Alice R. Johnson-Zeiger, Ph.D
Alice Johnson-Zeiger has sponsored a solider in memory of Dr.
McClaren Johnson Jr. MD. Saratoga WarHorse is an organization that
would have been dear to Dr. Johnson who was both a veteran and a
horseman. He died in 1973. Dr. Johnson served as a captain in the US
Army and from 1960 through 1962, he was the base physician for the US
Cold Regions Test Center in Fort Greely, Alaska. His daughters, Susan
Johnson and Mary Ellen Johnson Marble, are both horse lovers and
practicing veterinarians in Texas.
If you know of a veteran who could benefit from the program, please refer him or her to Bob at (518) 321-3033 or email
[email protected] or Janelle at [email protected].
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Merrill Lynch/Bank of America Foundation is underwriting a Saratoga WarHorse donor recognition event on
Monday, August 19th. Those who have made a significant commitment to Saratoga WarHorse will be
acknowledged at this special evening, and they will have the opportunity to meet some our of Saratoga WarHorse
alumni. To learn more about the event, please call Bob Nevins (518 321-3033) or Marilyn Lane (518 257-0648).
HRTV, The Network for Horse Sports, will attend our July 22nd class to begin work on a 30 minute documentarystyle special for their Emmy and Eclipse Award-winning Inside Information program. HRTV will return in August
to interview owners, trainers, breeders and other supporters of Saratoga WarHorse, and will also cover the August
19th event.
We look forward to an upcoming article featuring Saratoga WarHorse in
The Blood-Horse!
NYRA is sponsoring a race in honor of Saratoga WarHorse on Travers Day,
Saturday, August 24th. Also on that day you'll find us at a booth over by the
Jockeys’ Quarters, where we'll have videos and photos available.
SPECIAL VETERANS DAY: Wednesday, August 28th, Saratoga Race
Course will pay tribute to those who have served our country. All veterans and
active duty military will receive free grandstand admission with military ID.
Thank you to Theresa and John Behrendt, who are sponsoring the 2nd annual
race in honor of Saratoga WarHorse!
JOIN OUR E-LIST! Please visit SaratogaWarHorse.com or email
Marilyn Lane at [email protected].
Happy 150th anniversary Saratoga
Racing! May we all continue to
work together to preserve our
precious sport and protect our
returning veterans. We send our
congratulations to the marvelous
effort the 150th committee has put
into celebrating this milestone.
Have a great season everyone!