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Genetics Unbridled - Horse DNA & Technology Powered by Etalon Equine Genetics
Horse DNA, genetic testing, coat color, ancestry, breed testing, cloning, Crispr, genetic editing, performance, health, equine athletes and more! We talk about all things horse and genetics on this podcast with all horse folk from celebrity athletes and their equine partners to breeders, judges, registries and everyday owners. Brought to you by a team of scientists who happen to be horse people. We know you, because we are you. Know your horse all the way down to the DNA.
Genetics Unbridled - Horse DNA & Technology Powered by Etalon Equine Genetics
From Hoofbeats to Healing: Veterans and Mustangs
What if there was a way to bridge the gap between military veterans and their civilian lives using the unlikeliest of companions—wild mustangs? Or a way to support the mental health of active-duty military members through the healing bond with these remarkable animals? Join us as we welcome Patti Gruber, Program Director of Operation Wild Horse, to unravel the magic behind this groundbreaking initiative and how genetics are starting to play a role in their selection process. Patti tells us, "I'm excited each time a Mustang comes in, whether it's for a trial or a rescue, to send out the information, understand the horse's background, and assess its chance of success in the program. I think it will provide us with a roadmap we don’t currently have."
Patti shares heartwarming stories of veterans forming profound connections with these majestic creatures, helping them rediscover purpose and camaraderie. With a focus on structured yet adaptable activities, find out how the program empowers participants and even extends healing to their families and communities.
Operation Wild Horse, which took off in February 2017, has grown from a grassroots effort into a celebrated program making waves across America. By offering equine therapy to veterans from all branches, including a special camp for women veterans, this initiative has captured the attention of filmmakers and won accolades like a Mid-American Emmy Award. All of this is achieved without government funding, relying instead on community support and a deep understanding of the needs of veterans. Patti explains how the program's organic evolution fosters a nurturing environment where veterans can heal and thrive.
Explore the fascinating world of mustang genetics and community involvement with us. Discover how understanding the temperaments of these wild horses enhances their role in veteran therapy, and learn about community-driven initiatives that connect mustang enthusiasts. From the touching story of a Marine and a mustang named Padre to innovative projects like "Map my Mustang," Patti paints a vivid picture of the transformative power of these incredible animals. As we close, we express our gratitude to veterans and invite you to engage with this impactful program that continues to change lives, one mustang at a time.
Links:
Operation Wild Horse Website
Operation Wild Horse Facebook
Operation Wild Horse Instagram
Operation Wild Horse Tiktok
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Welcome back to Genetics Unbridled. This Veterans Day, we're thrilled to speak with Patty Gruber, the Program Director of Operation Wild Horse. This inspiring program works with military veterans and active duty service members, helping them build bonds with once wild mustangs and burros. These relationships create a safe space for veterans to share experiences, foster connections and rediscover a sense of purpose in civilian life. I'm Lauren McDevitt and in this episode I'm joined by Etalon team member Holly Robillard, as Patty shares with us how these once wild mustangs mirror the journey of military service members in ways that are surprisingly profound and deeply impactful. So to get things started, patty, I would love for you to tell us more about Operation Wild Horse.
Patti Gruber:We have 13 wild mustangs and seven wild burros in their program, and when I say wild, I guess I should be saying once wild because they're not so wild anymore, saying once wild because they're not so wild anymore. We like to talk about the program being the veterans and active duty military that we work with, learning how to build relationships with the Mustangs and then with other veterans and active duty military who come out to the program. Conversations happen in our aisle when the veterans and active duty military start letting their guard down when they're grooming their horses, that they probably don't feel like there's another space that they can have their conversations, and we try to pair up the veterans and active duty military with horses that have similar personalities to what they have, so they can see what their personality looks like, kind of like they're looking in a mirror. And then we also put them around like-minded individuals who understand what they went through in their time in the military. So we're building relationships on multiple levels, which then translates into the community, to their families and to their friends.
Holly Robilliard:That's amazing. Can you tell us a little bit more about what a typical day in the program would look like?
Patti Gruber:Yeah, the greatest thing about our program, I think, is that it's a structured, unstructured program.
Patti Gruber:So, yes, we give everybody a day and time that we know that they're going to be coming out, and that gives the veterans the ability to plan around it and us to be able to plan a little bit more of either a one-on-one time or a little bit more of a group time with that specific person. But the other piece of that is, if somebody gets up and they're like, hey, it's a little bit of a rough day, they can call me or they can text me in the morning and go is there a time that I can come out and spend some time with my horse or my burrow? And it may be something as simple as they come out and they just pull up a chair and they sit next to the pasture and they watch them run around and they watch the horses have the camaraderie. Or it can be something that they want to jump in on another group of veterans that are there and get involved with them on that day, because they need to be around like-minded individuals who understand what they're going through, do you?
Holly Robilliard:guys do workshops or lessons when you're first starting with the veterans and the active duty members, or how to kind of, if you're new coming into the program. What is, what are the first steps?
Patti Gruber:So the first step to come into the program is that you're going to reach out and you're going to let us know that you have an interest in coming in, and I set up a time for the veteran or the veteran and their family members to come in and take a tour of the facility. And we get to know each other a little bit then and we talk about their personality and the personalities that go on in their family. And as we're having those discussions, it's really neat. If we walk into a pasture with horses you'll actually see some of the Mustangs and the Burros start to gravitate to specific people. So I always say that the Mustangs kind of pick their people that they want to work with.
Patti Gruber:So first time out, get to know each other, get to know each other's personalities, make sure they have an understanding of what we're going to do, and then we start about 15 different activities that we do on the ground, anything from here's how you groom your horse, here's how you pick their feet, which is obviously a big deal because that's taking away their ability to escape a situation that they may or may not feel comfortable in.
Patti Gruber:We teach how to safely lead the horse. We teach everything on the ground, from how to round pen the horse, how to lunge the horse, how to safely lead the horse. We teach everything on the ground from how to round pen the horse, how to lunge the horse, how to safely lead the horse. We have a full obstacle course on the property and they have to be able to do that obstacle in hand with their horses also. And we work through all the different things that we think everybody needs to learn on the ground before they even get to learn how to tack the first time. And then, when they're finally at the point that we feel comfortable and that they really built a relationship with their Mustang, then we give them the opportunity to learn how to saddle and swing a leg over for the first time.
Holly Robilliard:I can only imagine what that feels like. So my husband's in the military. He's been in the Army for almost 16 years now. So my husband's in the military. He's been in the Army for almost 16 years now, and so we haven't obviously transitioned back into civilian life. But it's always something that you know family members think about is you know what that future is going to look like.
Holly Robilliard:So I love that you guys have the involvement with the families, with the military members and also with the veterans. It's like over 200,000 people military members every year get out of the military and have to transition back into civilian life, and I think it's amazing to be able for them to have something like this, because people don't realize how hard it is to go from having a structure, having a purpose and having a job, and then suddenly you don't have that anymore. And I love that parallel with the Mustangs because it's the same thing for them. They've gone, you know, living their life for generations out in the wild, and suddenly their life as they know it is completely different and they have no idea what to do, and so I can only imagine what that's like for them being able to form that relationship with each other, because they really are going through the same things.
Patti Gruber:Yeah, it's neat on multiple levels. So we have a female veteran right now who has put in her paperwork to be done in the military with her career I think it's four or five months from now and she's talked about how much it has helped her to be around the other female veterans that she's around going. Okay, you know, they're helping me understand what life is going to be like after I get out of the military, and people in the military talk about the fact that there's so many decisions that they have to make, starting day one of getting out of the military. Starting with, the most simple thing is what am I going to wear today? They have been in uniforms for how long? And they have to get up in the morning and go all right. Well, I'm not putting on my combat boots today. What am I doing?
Patti Gruber:And we do talk about in the program how there's a direct parallel between the wild horses and burros and the military, with the fact that you know, at the most organic level, they're both owned by the government at one point in time.
Patti Gruber:You know they don't get to decide where they're going in the world, what happens with their life, what their outcome is going to be, what vaccinations that they're going to get, you know, and basically what the rest of their life is going to end up as once they've joined the military.
Patti Gruber:You know you may get one person who ends up in Hawaii for their whole entire career and you get another person who's, you know, done multiple tours on Iraq or Afghanistan. You know same thing as our wild horses. You know. Some of them end up in the most fantastic homes, you know, and the lucky 13 right now have ended up with us being able to make a difference and really help people. But unfortunately, not every horse is going to have a storybook ending either. So you know it's interesting when you start talking about the parallels of the family units that they all live in, whether it be the units that the military are in together or the family units that the horses are in in the wild. You know there's just so many different parallels, the fight or flight that they both use to survive. They understand each other on a very organic level.
Holly Robilliard:Yeah, I totally agree. It's such a I think it would be very helpful for other people, I think, to understand that, because it's such a challenge for all of them and it's again it's so great for them to have something like this program to help transition and for them to. It's a lot to work through. I can't hit that home enough of how impossibly hard it is for people to transition back to civilian life. So, speaking of your program now, when were you guys, when did you found or when was the program founded, and tell us a little bit about what you guys do for your funding or things like that? Are you? I know you guys recently had an event a few months back. I think it was a fundraising event, so can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Patti Gruber:Sure, we opened our doors in February of 2017. And I joke around that the only people who are brave or crazy enough to get on wild mustangs at first were the Marines. It was about six or seven months before we got someone in who was not a Marine, because everybody was like, oh well, I thought it was a Marine only program and I'm like, no, we're open to everybody. And it was interesting because we started growing with some of the other branches and then we got our first couple of female veterans in, which was really cool. In 2018, we went out to one of the Mustang makeovers and we were down in Fort Worth and we had the opportunity to connect with a film crew that was putting together a movie called the Mustangs America's Wild Horses that's executively produced by Robert Redford and it has a song by Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nelson, and we were really fortunate that they vetted us out against a lot of different programs and we were fortunate to be part of that movie, which currently is playing throughout the United States on PBS, and that really showcased the beginnings of our program and what we were doing with all of our veterans. So it was really nice to have the program kind of validated by somebody outside of us who was seeing the great work that we were doing and the impact that it was making on the veterans, and fast forward beyond that. We had one of our female veterans reach out and she was like, hey, you know, it's great to be out here with all the veterans, but you know, sometimes it'd be nice just to have a couple of the women veterans be able to get together, because we've had a much different experience than the male veterans have. So we started a women veterans camp and it's been going on for I think we started it in 2019. I think we started in 2019. So going on five years now.
Patti Gruber:And the program was featured last year in a mini-docu-series on PBS called Prairie Fire and it just won a Mid-American Emmy Award. Oh my gosh, a piece on our program, yeah, yep. So the producer from that came out last week with the Emmy Award and everybody got to hold on to the Emmy Award. So it's been really nice, you know, starting from a grassroots campaign where you know we don't have big grants that are behind us, the government isn't funding us. It's really been all about listening to our veterans and growing the program organically together, listening to what they want to learn and what they want to do and growing that way. So it's our funding.
Patti Gruber:All comes from people who just hear about who we are and what we do and what we're about. People who love wild mustangs and wild burros, people who love our veterans and our active duty military. They find out about us and we're fortunate to have the different resources between the movie and the mini docu-series. So we're fortunate that we have some stuff like that out there, that our reach can be a little bit bigger than what it had been in the past just going into our local communities. But we've got great connections here with our local veterans organizations, whether it's the VFW or the American Legion, whether it's the VFW or the American Legion.
Patti Gruber:We're close to Great Lakes Naval Base and level VA health care and it's nice because we get referrals over from veterans to us as an adjunct therapy to the therapy that they're already in. So we are in a great community, we're in a great area that is supportive of us and fortunately that's kept us going to this point. But you know you can always use, you know, more people to find out about you and every dollar makes a difference when you're putting together a program. There's nothing inexpensive about having horses, which we all know, and you can budget for what your horse is going to cost you in a year. But the second that you put a number on that they're going to do something wild and crazy that's going to change that number. So we're really a grassroots organization that we're lucky to have a lot of public support for.
Holly Robilliard:Do you feel like, because the program is so organically built that that's what sets Operation Wild Horse apart from some of the other organizations.
Patti Gruber:I really do think that's the biggest difference between us.
Patti Gruber:You know there's other organizations that were built for other populations of people that is trying to make it work with veterans and we made a conscious decision when we were getting started to say, hey, let's really listen to our veterans, let's listen to what their needs are and we're going to build based on that.
Patti Gruber:We really feel like the curriculum that we have now, with the amount of groundwork that we do to set them up to really be successful in the saddle, makes a huge difference to the people who come out and then the bonds that people are allowed to build when they're out with us. You know it'll be a nice summer day and a couple of veterans will be sitting around the picnic table under our awning, just sitting there chatting, and you know they may be on our list to work with from like two to four in the afternoon and it may be noon when they show up and they may be there until six o'clock at night. So it just gives our veterans and our active duty military a great alternative to sit and get to know each other and have that camaraderie, and I truly think that's what sets our program apart from a lot of the other ones.
Holly Robilliard:I totally agree. I don't know anyone that has horses that doesn't feel like. The second they walk onto the property or walk into the barn, they don't instantly feel a little bit better. And I swear I don't know if it's like the smell of it or if it's the fresh air or what it is, but like even for me, when I walk in I just immediately whatever I'm worried about, I just feel it lifted a little bit. And then the second I start working with my horses. If I'm grooming or if I'm actually riding, it's just. Every other thought is gone and it's. Whatever I'm worried about is gone. And then by the time I'm done and I put my horse away and I'm walking out of the barn, I feel a little bit lighter. I feel like I can talk about things a little bit better, I feel more clear headed and I think it's such a great feeling.
Patti Gruber:I agree. We talk about the fact that once you come through our front gates, you leave the rest of the world behind. We have pastures on both sides of the driveway and you're instantly greeted by the horses and it's just such a fantastic experience where everyone can come in and they can take that big, deep breath of the fresh country air and, you know, breathe in that horse smell and just know that you're in a really safe place, that people understand you there and you don't have to explain anything you don't want to explain.
Lauren McDevitt:Yeah, I think we always joke about around here oh, I'm going to go to the barn for 30 minutes. It's never 30 minutes. You talked a little bit earlier about doing all the groundwork beforehand and how healing that alone can be and just spending time being around them and learning about each other. And then two, going back to what you said about the bond and having the horse be involved in kind of picking their person. You know, with the genetics we find that there is a type of horse that you tend to like or gravitate towards, and that horse gravitates towards you. So it's really cool to see when you're looking at their temperament and their DNA and seeing this person likes this type of horse. So maybe we'll kind of see some of those themes too. Maybe some of the veterans say, oh, I like these three horses and maybe they'll have the same genetic temperament which will be cool to see.
Patti Gruber:So we might have to start asking them which are their top three favorites as we're going through, and see if there's anything genetically that's similar between those three horses that they pick. That would be very interesting from our end of it.
Lauren McDevitt:Yeah, it's really fun when we see a whole group like you have tested and we go through and we go, huh, this one's different than the rest of the herd. And then come to find out people go oh yeah, I could have told you that with the genetics and then now you're confirming it. I know I was shocked when I tested my four horses. It was like they all have the same three genetic things in their performance and I would have never known. But now it's like, yeah, that makes sense. How cool is that? So we'll see if there's any common themes. We'll have to compare notes with you when we chat about it.
Holly Robilliard:We will. So I know that you have the Mustangs and you have the Burros, Can you? And we already kind of dove in a little bit about why Mustangs are so relevant to this program and why everything kind of revolves around them. Um, did you feel like there was a special significance for Mustangs for the program in the first place? Because I know some places will just choose, you know, any group of horses, um, like some other therapy programs and things like that. So was there a special significance to the Mustangs for you guys with the program?
Patti Gruber:There actually was. So it was interesting. When I first started thinking about doing this, I was fortunate to have two Marines come out to our facility that I had at the time and I put them together with two domestic horses and I watched the different experiences the two of them had with their domestic horses. And I watched the different experiences the two of them had with their domestic horses. The one was running around and having a blast riding, completely out of control but having a fantastic time, like you would expect from a Marine. And then the other one was nervous enough that he was squeezing the hold on and I was having to hand walk the horse and I'm like gosh, this is so crazy, and that was kind of my first little light bulb moment. But when they were out there I had my Mustang Padre at the barn and they gravitated over to him and I was like well, that's really interesting that you know of all the domestic horses that were at that barn and there was one Mustang. That that was kind of where the pull was coming from.
Patti Gruber:So the second time I had Jimmy come out to the barn it was really interesting I had him sit on a mounting block in the indoor arena and I had put Padre in the indoor arena and I was like, well, let's just see what happens. And it was interesting because Padre walked around the indoor arena and he kind of checked him out from every single side of the arena and I was like, ok, that's really interesting. I'm not sure exactly what he's doing, but you know was kind of watching it unfold to see what was going to happen. And Padre went from side to side of the arena just making a big square around him, checking him out from every single side, and then he finally stopped and he went over and he stood next to him and he kind of shook his mane out and put his head down and he was like, all right, we're cool, this is good, you're not here to eat me, you're not here to harm me. And Jimmy was like I don't know what just happened, but that was so cool and I'm thinking, well, I don't really know what just happened either, but yeah, that really was cool.
Patti Gruber:So I asked him to then to pick up his mounting block and move it. And he picked it up and he put it next to the rail and we had just put a new clock on the rail right there and Padre walked over and he kept touching the clock and he would touch Jimmy and touch the clock and touch Jimmy with his nose. And Jimmy's like what's he doing? And I'm like well, we just put that black clock on the white wall this morning and he wants you to take it down to show it to him. And he's like yeah, right, whatever. And I'm like no, like no, I'm serious, you know, take the clock down and show it to him. And he did.
Patti Gruber:And padre nuzzled all over the clock and um, and then he was like all right, this is cool. And he kind of shook out his hair again and went and stood next to him and kind of put his head down and was like all right, this is good, we're good. And that was like the basis for getting the program started was that one experience of watching the difference of how they associated with the domestic horses but yet they were drawn to the Mustang. And then when I had the opportunity to bring them back and to see that different interaction that happened and see the Mustang thought process and the veterans thought process in there, it was just magical and it was from that point on I knew that I needed to do this program with Mustangs because they both understood each other so well. And we started with just Padre, and then we added shrimp to that, and then we added socks and mouse to that, and here we are at 13 Mustangs later.
Holly Robilliard:So I know one of your Mustangs whose results we have already released for you. His name is 22. Can you tell us a little bit about the significance behind his name?
Patti Gruber:Oh, absolutely so. 22 is specifically named for the 22 veterans who unfortunately choose to take their lives each day. There is some conversation about that number and if it's a little higher or if it's a little lower, because not every state reports on that, but the average is 22 veterans a day it means a lot to us with the program that we're doing and the amount of appearances that we do to really honor those people and raise awareness. And as we were getting him, he is a huge Mustang. He is four years old and he's already just shy of 16 hands. He just has this massive presence and this crazy like in your face personality where he just like commands attention when he comes in, and we just thought that he was really fitting to be able to carry that name and to be out there and be our next Mustang to really do a lot of awareness with.
Holly Robilliard:Absolutely. I love that and I can see from what I've seen and heard of him he's absolutely the best one, I think, to carry. That's an enormous weight, but it sounds like he's an enormous horse.
Lauren McDevitt:He says I got this yeah.
Holly Robilliard:So I know we had just talked about looking at the temperaments and the performance of some of these other Mustangs and how that could potentially relate to the program, but I'd love to hear your opinion on how you think the understanding more about the horse's genetics, like the temperament and where they come from, is going to affect the program going forward you know, I think it's really a huge opportunity for us to learn more about their temperament and their genetics.
Patti Gruber:From the simple fact that, as we're choosing horses from the program you know, it will hopefully help guide us in our choices.
Patti Gruber:Yes, I understand that there can always be special horses in every single herd, but if we know that a specific herd has a little bit more of the genetics that we're looking for whether we're looking for something a little bit thicker boned or we're looking for something with a little bit more, you know, draftiness in their temperament it's going to really give us a guide to what to look at.
Patti Gruber:We have everything from a tiny little less than five foot tall female who maybe weighs 100 pounds soaking wet, to a 240 pound, big, burly, 6'2 guy.
Patti Gruber:So we need to have a variety of Mustangs that are appropriate for all of them and I think that, personality wise, we really want Mustangs that want to interact but at the same time, want to bond. You know, and I think the genetics that we're going to get from doing all of this is really going to give us some insight as to kind of guide us as hopefully we keep continuing to grow with the public support and continuing to choose more Mustangs. You know I'm excited each time that we have a Mustang come in. You know whether we're doing a trial with it or it's a rescue Mustang that comes in to be able to, you know, send the information out to you guys and figure out the whole background of the horse, and you know what percentage of a chance do we have that this is really going to work for the program too. I think it's just it's going to give us like a roadmap that we don't currently have yeah, absolutely.
Holly Robilliard:I'm really excited. So, for all of our listeners, what we are going to be doing is we're rolling out um. Is it sets of three? Yes, we're doing so, sets of three. And what we're going to do is we're going to start voting um on which horses, which mustangs results we would like to see released next. So we're going to be voting and ranking, and it's going to be on a rolling basis, so that way we can kind of get to keep the voting going, keep the awareness going, um, and then eventually we'll get to take a look at everybody's results, although the sounds of it, uh, by the sounds of it, by the time we get around to the next set of horses, there's going to be more coming in, hopefully.
Patti Gruber:So I can only hope.
Lauren McDevitt:You know, patty, you said something really interesting earlier and you're talking about, you know, finding, you know good homes for these horses in terms of Mustangs and sometimes they, you know, find their Cinderella story and how special that is.
Lauren McDevitt:And that really goes along with what we're doing here and talking about suitability. And you know, we truly believe there is a purpose for every horse. It's just a matter of finding out what that purpose is. And some, you know, they get to go and be pasture ornaments and get to go hang out and just make someone have a better existence, whether that's, you know, in a therapeutic way, spending time with them, just going to visit in the barn or actually riding. You know we talk about a little bit the groundwork that you do and how that can have an impact in itself, and so we're always trying to figure out what is best for these animals and using genetics as a tool to help find out and maybe it'll help with your program too, as you get more horses and kind of figure out what works and what doesn't. And that's our overall goal is to make sure that people are doing what they should do with their horses and kind of helping them set their program better for what they're trying to accomplish, so I thought that was really cool.
Patti Gruber:Yeah, I think this is going to help, not just the Mustang people, I mean.
Patti Gruber:Obviously, as Mustang people we have our favorite herds and you know, you can talk to 15 different Mustang people and you'll get 15 different opinions on a specific herd of what they think the traits are.
Patti Gruber:You know and this gives us a little bit more proof on that but in our case and a lot of other people you know about half of our Mustangs are rescues. So while we can find out right away what their herd is, we may not be able to get any background information on them as to what their past was before us or what they are or are not going to be good at. So I think having this tool, not just for Mustang people but for all horse people and especially people who are doing rescue work you know, you never know what you're getting in a horse that you get out of a rescue situation, no matter what breed they are I think you're like you're unlocking doors for people that we probably never thought was possible without the work that you guys do, and I think it's just going to put that many horses into that many better situations and better homes and hopefully forever homes for them.
Lauren McDevitt:Well, and two, one thing that I have to say is Mustang owners are amazing because they just want to find out anything there is to know about their horses and try and just ask as many questions as possible. You know, compare notes between other people who have horses from that herd and we have a little project that we call Map my Mustang which is just kind of trying to connect those owners and say you know that your horse came from here and then kind of comparing with our Find my Herd feature that was super helpful for 22 and just kind of, you know, building out that family tree and seeing you know what we can discover through that. So with working with you guys, it's going to be huge in terms of kind of connecting Mustang owners and just getting that information out there so we can build that community and hopefully answer a lot more questions and do some research.
Holly Robilliard:So yeah, that's definitely the common theme that I see across all the Mustang owners and organizations that I work with on a daily basis is that they're all about building community, and it's so important to have that community around you and I think that's something, patty, that you would also agree would agree with our military members and the veterans and their families is that having that community around you makes all the difference.
Patti Gruber:Absolutely. You know there's. I don't think there's a more welcoming horse breed than the Mustang people. You know, everybody's here cheering on everybody else all the time. When you get a new Mustang, everybody wants to know everything about it. Are there pictures of it in the wild? What are you going to do with it?
Patti Gruber:You go out anywhere with a Mustang and people are like, oh my gosh, is that a Mustang? That's so cool, you know, and it just. It's a breed that opens the eyes to so many different people and just has so much support within the breed. It's just, it's a. It's like a magical community that you get into and you're like why didn't I do this sooner? And being able to unlock those doors to go, okay, you know I got a Mustang and this one's going to be a fantastic jumper. That's going to be a great way to get more Mustangs into more homes that are going to be suited for that.
Patti Gruber:Where, you know, unfortunately, there's there's some people who look at them and they're like, oh, they're just mutts and they can't do anything. And it's like, well, hang on, wait a second. Let me show you this, because you know my horse has got all of this stuff in it and genetically, you know it's going to be a fantastic jumper, or it's going to be a fantastic dressage horse, or, you know, a Western horse or whatever it's going to end up being. But proof is going to be because of what you guys are putting together.
Holly Robilliard:I think it's actually something that we in-house here chuckle about every day is that people, whether you have a purebred or a grade horse or wherever your horses come from, for the most part they're all a little bit of everything, and so, people, it's funny that you say that it's like, oh, a Mustang is just a mutt, and I'm like but you know, so is a warm blood and so is a quarter horse.
Patti Gruber:That's one of those interesting things, because the quarter horse association talks about how Mustangs were part of the founding breed of the quarter horse association and then when you think about the amount of Mustangs that part of the founding breed of the Quarter Horse Association, and then when you think about the amount of Mustangs that were shipped overseas during the wars to fight along our troops, I mean we're looking at it and going, oh well, you know, this Mustang is part this type of breed or this type of breed, and it's like, wait a second, is it actually the backwards that that type of breed is actually part of the Mustang and we just don't know exactly how that intertwines yet.
Patti Gruber:But I think it's just something so fascinating that hopefully it's going to open up a lot of people's eyes and go, well, hey, you know, maybe my warm blood is actually related to these Mustangs or maybe my Mustang is related, you know, to these Spanish horses or you know, whatever the mix is going to be. But I think it really has the ability to open up a lot of eyes to a lot of people and you know it's going to make people think.
Holly Robilliard:Definitely, for all of our listeners who are not involved in the military community or in the Mustang community, can you tell us some ways that they can get involved, if they want to be involved with Operation Wild Horse?
Patti Gruber:Oh, absolutely. So we are trying very hard to be better with our social media. I am old enough that Facebook is my comfort zone, so you can find Operation Wild Horse on Facebook. We do have a TikTok and Instagram also that you can find Operation Wild Horse on, just search the name. When we're not posting, it's because I forget that I'm supposed to be.
Patti Gruber:We also have a website. You can go to wwwoperationwildhorseorg. You can reach out through there. I get the emails that come in. I get the messages that come in for all of our social media, so you'll be able to connect directly with me. We have a donation page on our website. We don't mind snail mail either. So, and for people who are coming anywhere near Northern Illinois and we're in Bull Valley, illinois, you know we love to do public tours. We love to work with different schools throughout the country. You know you have to remember that the wild mustangs only exist because school aged children, you know, wrote letters in favor of saving them and that's how the Wild Horse and Burrow Act came about. So you know we love to send the movie out to schools or go to talk to schools. We go to community programs you name it, you know, if you're interested in doing something to help us, we're probably interested in working with you. So reach out to us social media, website, whatever is best for you and let's do something together.
Holly Robilliard:Absolutely, and just as a reminder for our listeners, 10% of the proceeds from any test purchase through this podcast link or through our Operation Wild Horse link will go directly towards supporting them. So if you're interested in getting the ancestry or performance, genetics or health or color for your horse, then use that link to make sure that you're supporting this incredible organization.
Patti Gruber:Well, I am very excited to be able to share those links. You know, all the Mustangs are magical for such different reasons. I know that Pearly, aka Pearl Harbor, has a huge following. He's our Pinto Mustang Valor, who was a band stallion out in stinking water. I know he has a following, you know. And then we have our rescue horses that are, you know, fantastic also, whether it be Evie or Rio or I don't know, it's just so hard. I mean, you know, bango is this huge beautiful bay and Jelly is this giant Palomino.
Holly Robilliard:And.
Patti Gruber:I'm like, oh my gosh, I just want to know about all of them.
Holly Robilliard:I totally agree.
Holly Robilliard:Every single horse that I've had I've secretly told them that they were my favorite because, it's true, they're all my favorite, because you can never pick one that you like more than the others Impossible, I wish people were the same way. People were the same way. Yeah, I agree. Well, thank you again so much, patty, for your collaboration with us and for your support and for everything that you're doing for Operation Wild Horse and, of course, for our incredible military members. Thank you so much for your service and all of our veterans and, of course, the family members that support them. It means so much to us and we really appreciate it, so, thank you.
Patti Gruber:Well, thank you guys for doing this project with us, and I know we're excited. The veterans and active duty military that we work with are excited, and I know that the public, as we're rolling this out, is going to get behind it and be really excited about it too. So thank you to you guys and everything you guys are doing to support.
Lauren McDevitt:Thank you again to Patty for joining us and sharing the impactful work of Operation Wild Horse. Hearing about these profound connections between veterans and these resilient Mustangs truly reminds us of the transformative power of these bonds. We're grateful for programs like Operation Wild Horse that brings so much purpose and healing to our military community. If you'd like to learn more about the program or find resources for veterans, be sure to check the show notes linked in this episode's description. If you enjoyed today's conversation, please consider leaving us a rating and review. It helps us reach more listeners like you. Thanks for tuning in and we look forward to seeing you next time on Genetics Unbridled.
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