Lincoln, AL – This past weekend, Veteran’s came from all over Alabama to Dovetail Landing in Lincoln, for a special Cowboy Boot Camp where they were given hands-on-training with horses. Norfolk Southern sponsored the event and BondFire Ranch from Clanton helped assist bringing horses and training. Also, joining in to help make this a great time for our Veterans, was Dovetail Landing’s President, Alana Centilli, Robert Holmes, Brigadier General Retired United States Air Force and the Executive Director of Dovetail Landing, Talladega County Commissioner Darrel Ingram, Dr. Ed Murray with Coosa Valley Equine Center, Lincoln High School Agriculture Teacher Mrs. Amy Stephens and Lincoln High School F.F.A. members.
General Holmes shared about the Cowboy Boot Camp that was held at Dovetail Landing. He said, “We had a great weekend! We partnered with another Veteran recovery outreach from Clanton, Alabama, Bondfire Ranch. They came up to Dovetail to join in offering Veteran’s an experience with live, assisted learning.”
There was no riding this weekend as this was only an orientation for the Veteran’s and their family members to get to meet the horse and to begin to understand the horse’s personality. General Holmes said, “Each horse has a different personality just like people. The idea is in this initial introduction, that a person then bonds with a horse and begins to look for certain things, because the horse is going to bond or not with the human. Also, part of bonding with the horse is learning to groom the horse, and the horse likes to be groomed. The horse will also let you know if you’re not exactly grooming the horse right, because they sense everything that you are projecting to them. The horse is sensing of the human and what’s going on with the human is exponentially more of a sensory awareness for that horse and the horse gets it. The horse knows if you’re worried, upset, relaxed and that’s going to help the horse to relax. So it’s all about, as one of the folks in one of the sessions said, ‘horses don’t have problems, people do’ and that’s so true. This is how you set up self-awareness and resiliency in recovery as a Veteran reassimilating into community, family, and the workforce. This is just another means of communication. What you can learn in communicating with a horse, will actually help you communicate with family, with life, and with fellow workers.”
Dovetail Landing has a lot of events for Veterans, not just Cowboy Boot Camp or equine assisted learning. Recently, they also had a Veteran’s fishing tournament, where 30 Veteran’s were paired up with 30 community fishermen to spend the day fishing, bonding, enjoying a barbecue lunch and winning some awards.
Another event they are offering is a virtual Veteran’s art therapy session held by a certified art therapist. General Holmes said, “it’s all designed about Veterans who may have things that they need to either address in terms of their own self-awareness or understand about, such as, things in life with family or workplace. All of this is designed to help contribute to that.”
Later this summer, Dovetail Landing plans to have a Veteran songwriting retreat. This is for those who like music, would like help writing a song and want to build relationships along the way.
Another very important thing Dovetail Landing has is an outreach for Veteran caretakers. General Holmes said, “These are family members or very close friends for Veterans that have returned home with a physical challenge, disability or other need. Family members will become caregivers. So another thing we’re doing is having caregiver retreats. Like with Alana Centilli, Dovetail Landing’s inspiration, and she really guides us here because of the experience she had with her son, Daniel Centilli, a young Marine that was wounded, and then passed away several years after he was medically retired. She was his caregiver. She’s an Elizabeth Dole Fellow, as a caregiver and she’s been at the national level representing that. So now we’ve got a series of Veteran caregiver seminars. We’ve got two coming up here in the next month or so. One is going to be a caregiver summit and it’s going to be out at A.I.D.B., Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, in the Armbrester Agricultural Center and we’re actually going to focus on gardening events and things to help these caregivers have an outlet because in some cases, they’re spending 24/7 taking care of that Veteran that was wounded and can no longer get along by themselves. So that’s very important. Also talking about agriculture and horticulture, we’re going to do the Dovetail Victory Garden Seminar this spring, and that’s going to bring Veterans and their family members out who are interested in their spring gardening, summer garden and then what to do to prepare for next fall’s garden. We’re going to start that and a series of Veteran’s outreaches.”
One other thing Dovetail Landing offers is to be a part of their Dovetail Brigade. This is an entity where Veteran’s and community members that want to serve, “come together, as peers to support each other, network, enjoy good times, and find service projects to do so that we get the community and Veterans working together on that project,” said General Holmes.
For everyone who would like more information about Dovetail Landing, the programs they offer, and how to get involved, please visit their website at www.dovetaillanding.org, or their Facebook and Instagram pages.
I asked General Holmes if there was anything else he wanted to leave with Veteran’s and those helping Veteran’s. He said “Dovetail Landing is an emerging Veteran’s resiliency and recovery activity. All Veterans bonded to a creed that warriors don’t leave their comrades behind, whether it’s in combat or life. We’re behind each other. We stand behind each other. So that’s what Dovetail Landing wants to provide for Veterans, particularly as they’re transitioning back from a military service and many of those transitioning back from experiences in combat where they faced some pretty tough times. Some faced trauma, and we want to be able to be a bridge so that we hold that warrior’s creed that, ‘Hey, we’re not going to leave you behind! We’re in this together.
If you’ve got a problem, if you’re in a tough spot, then we’re going to come get you. We’re going to help you.’”
*Photos Courtisy of Dovetail Landing
