Walk With Me Healing Steps Offers Equine Therapy Solutions
On a farm tucked off a country road in Conover, N.C., Jen Bandy and her team are helping people restore relationships and find peace with the help of some unexpected assistants.
Horses.
Walk With Me Healing Steps is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing healing and support through equine and nature-based therapies. The organization understands the profound impact that interacting with horses can have on emotional and physical well-being. Bandy is the organization’s founder.
On a recent summer morning, she told us about the genesis of the program, and a little about what it offers.
“I was a horse trainer, ran a boarding barn, did riding lessons, and I would get lots of notes from women and from families thanking me for changing their lives or their daughters’ lives,” Bandy said. “I’d simply tell them it’s not me, it’s the horse. I wanted to do this with more purpose, and I found out that equine-assisted psychotherapy and learning was a career option, and I made that shift.”
That shift led Bandy to a startling realization, and down a new path.
“I quickly found out that there’s a lot of people that don’t have insurance or are underinsured or have a $5,000, $10,000 deductible, and they can’t get the help that they need for mental health, for relationship help, for healing from trauma. So I said let’s start a non-profit.”
She also gravitated toward a particular base of people to serve.
“Veterans in particular were my first go-to,” she said. “Operation Battle Horse is our program for veterans. If you’ve served, we want to serve you back. We want to offer that peace that you weren’t given.”
Bandy said veterans often find integrating back into a non-military life to be difficult.
“As you transition from military to civilian culture, they’re not geared. They’re not armed. They’re not given the tools needed to make that transition. So we want to offer that, but it’s about relationships. We always talk about relationship to self and then relationship to others. And many times when you’re in the military, it’s not about self. It’s about team. And I understand that as well. But now guess what? It’s a different team. What are your values? What are your needs?”
Joe Nash, a six-year Army combat veteran, knows those feelings well.
“I found this workshop through my wife finding it and becoming part of their women’s group,” he said. “And I’ve been here ever since, really. I was on medication for PTSD through combat, and coming here I’ve been able to b away from the medication, working with the horses, doing a lot of voluntary work here.”
Nash seems to have an easy relationship with the horses at Walk With Me, despite not having an equine background at all.
“I was drawn to the horses I guess right off the bat,” he said. “I’d never been around horses before. I started building that relationship with the horses, and it’s like no other. It’s like the horse gets me for who I am. There’s no judgement.
How is building better relationships accomplished through horses, and what makes people gravitate to the animals? Bandy said the process isn’t magic - though it might seem like it sometimes.
“A lot of people do think there’s some magic there, and I get that part of it,” she said. “One of the biggest things with horses and why it works is because it’s hands-on experience. The horse reacts to you within that relationship. How do you present within the relationship? We can really look at that.”
Often, that’s revealed during one of the initial things someone is asked to do at Walk With Me.
“One of the first things we do after you pick your relationship horse is that I had you a halter and a lead rope and I ask you to halter the horse,” Bandy said. “People look at me like they don’t know what they’re doing, to give them the answer. I tell them there’s no right or wrong. Try something. See if you like it. See if the horse likes it. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something different.”
That simple task, Bandy said, reveals a lot about what people need to move forward.
“Now, the rubber hits the road,” she said. “Are you a perfectionist? Are you afraid to fail? Are you afraid to try anything? That’s one avenue we could take, and now we can talk about what happens if it doesn’t look perfect. The other avenue is I’m not going to ask anybody for help. That’s our veterans. I’m going to figure it out. I’m going to do it, I’m not even going to ask. We’re 20 minutes into it, and they still haven’t asked for support. And then that’s a conversation.”
Those conversations, Nash said, extend to daily life as if they’re second nature.
“I think it’s taught me a lot of patience,” he said. “Working with the horses, you have to be patient because they rely solely on trust and relationships. If you don’t have that, you’re just standing there. It’s really taught me perspective. I think I see a little differently. It’s taught me peace.”
Nash has taken to equine therapy so much that he’s going to head up a new program called By The Fire.
“It’s a men’s veterans group that’s going to meet on Thursdays,” he said. “We’re going to do some barn chores, learn some horsemanship, and then we’re going to meet by the fire. Any man who wants to come out, any veteran, can come and hang out with us. It’s a good place for discussion. It’s a good place to leave home at home and just be out here and be around like-minded men and express yourself.”
That camaraderie is a crucial element for veterans, Nash said.
“I think that whenever men are in the military, women too, they create a brotherhood,” he said. “You have that for so long, and then you come home out of the military and you’re ok for the first little bit, but then you start missing that camaraderie with other like-minded people that you served with or served around. And I think as a veteran, you look for that. From day one when you come out and get back into civilian life, that culture you’re looking for is very hard to find. It’s hard to find the trust. The atmosphere is different. Everything as a whole is different. And I think the program is a great way to bring veterans together to have that.”
That’s what success looks like at Walk With Me. New programs. New understandings. Peace. And, often, the same old faces. That’s a huge reward, Bandy said.
“People don’t really come back, because they just never really leave,” she said. “I say that as lovingly as possible, because what I mean is they shift from attending sessions into volunteering. They want to give back, because they know the people who are coming behind them are where they were. And they find it so valuable that they want to be a part of it for the next person.”
Walk With Me Healing Steps will host an inaugural gala in September in support of its programs. Information is below.
Under the vast Western skies of North Carolina, join us for an unforgettable evening of connection, celebration, and healing at the Western Skies and Healing Ties Gala. This special event brings together our community to honor the spirit of country while supporting initiatives that foster emotional, physical, and spiritual wellness.
Date: Saturday, September 6, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Location: Warehouse 18, 18th 2nd Street SE Hickory NC 28602
Dress Code: Western Elegance (Boots, Bowties, and Evening Glam)
