Horse camp helps heal children of fallen soldiers - KSNB

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MARQUETTE, Neb. (KSNB) - When a soldier dies while serving their country, a family back home is left to recover. Children have to learn how to grow up without a parent. One camp in Marquette is doing what they can to help kids heal on horseback.

A Soldier’s Child Horse Camp is a place kids from around the country can be with others who have lost one of their parents in the military. They can bond and learn a lot of life lessons along the way.

“When you’re 9, 10, 14 and you lose a parent in the military there’s a lot to overcome,” Founder Daryl JW Mackin said.

Riding a horse takes a willingness to let the horse be a guide much like a parent to their child. They teach the children the resiliency of trying again, of being confident in their commands, and that they are strong enough.

“For me it’s probably trust. you have to trust your instructor, you have to trust the horse and be able to lead them,” Rachel Washabaugh said.

The kids have been through the unimaginable circumstance of being the child of a fallen soldier. Even without words, the horses give some life lessons the parents will never get the chance to teach. Some kids freely share their story at the camp, others take more time. When they’re ready there is always a rein to hold.

“It’s really great because we know that they’ve gone through the same stuff we have. Not just sympathy for each other, we have empathy for each other so we’re able to really relate one another with everything they’ve gone through,” Washabaugh said.

The camp was created when Mackin’s neighbors lost their son in Afghanistan.

“My neighbor asked me one night in anger 'Did it really matter? Does anybody even care? I never thought about these families that have been left behind and I just wanted to set out and answer my neighbor’s questions that America does care, it does matter to us,” Mackin said.

Some of these kids were too young to really know their parents but they find comfort in those who can share their stories. It is what brings them back every year to see the people they now consider family.

“It’s actually really good and I love it here,” Valda Golin said.

One kid said people at their school don’t quite understand what they are going through but at the camp it’s a different story.

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