Bravehearts at CFD

Steve Mantle has been working with the Bureau of Land Management wild horse adoption program for many years. The Wheatland rancher has watched ten American military veterans connect with some of those horses in a round pen on Cheyenne's Frontier Park this week in ways he cannot explain. A large-scale adoption will be staged tomorrow in the eastside parking lot culminating a week of gentling work. Under the direction of Mantle and his family the group of vets called Bravehearts based near Chicago has been a valuable asset showing by example how strong a bond can be formed between human and animal in a very short period of time.It was a life-saving connection for Army veteran Mitchell Hedlund from northern Illinois. He was severely injured in Afghanistan five years ago. While Hedlund may have been physically repairing he was a total wreck mentally until six months ago. And Mitchell attributes the fact that he is alive to a wild horse.

Posted by Team Wyoming - The Rodeo Hand on Thursday, July 28, 2016