Gallant: A BLM mustang with a bright future

Army Veteran Roccay Larock was feeling disconnected when he reluctantly signed up for the initial offering of Operation Branded, the 8-week program where veterans, active-duty military, and first responders are each paired with a wild mustang to gentle them, with an option to keep the horse when it’s gentled. Roccay (pronounced “Rocky”) figured he could give his wife the horse at the end of the program, as she has always been passionate about them.  

Roccay’s first task was to select his mustang. At the holding facility, a blue roan from Oregon, just over 14 hands high, caught his eye. A “gangly baby with an umbilical hernia,” Gallant had already been passed up six times because of the hernia. Roccay didn’t know what an umbilical hernia was or if it was important, he just knew this was the horse he wanted to work with and he’d figure out the medical issue later.  

Halfway through the program, Roccay knew there was no way he was giving that horse, his horse, to his wife. This was three years ago. Today Roccay brings Gallant to work with him just about every day. Now more than 16 hands high, hernia repaired, Gallant helps mentor the incoming wild horses in the Operation Branded program. Roccay is a Veteran’s liaison for Operation Branded programs. Both are confident and calm, which is critical when working with reactive wild horses and their wary partners. Together they model a connection unlike any other. 

“Veterans and first responders work on a high level of adrenaline so sitting down and talking about their feelings isn’t always the way to go,” Roccay says. “Here, you give them this wild horse that’s had its life flipped upside down looking for guidance and leadership. This program allows them to build trust with that wild animal. We see ourselves in them, so we know what they need.” 

Operation Branded is offered three times each year, with the hope of doing more. Each session pairs 10 to 15 mustangs with a veteran, active military, or first responder with options for follow-on programs that provide connection, camaraderie, and support. It is the largest of the programs offered by Branded Equine Therapy Services in Harrison, Arkansas.  

This non-profit organization, founded by Lindsey Gabbard, partners with mustangs and other horses to help individuals of all ages and abilities. They also offer hippotherapy, which uses horses as a modality or tool for occupational, physical, and speech therapy. They also offer riding lessons and are starting a new equine-assisted mental health program.  

Branded Equine Therapy Services is also a wild horse and burro adoption center in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management and Forever Branded. They’ve helped adopt out 300 wild horses and burros over the past 3 years! Some of these mustangs are part of Operation Branded and some of the mustangs—that is, those that aren’t adopted by their human partners—are used in the other therapy and recreational riding programs. 

“Without the BLM, we couldn’t do our program to its full extent,” Lindsey Gabbard explains. “Our partnership has been extremely positive and rewarding, not only for us, but also for the mustangs and the lives they’ve touched!”  

When they’ve been gentled, there is no limit to what most mustangs can do. They have gone on to utility work such as a ranch horse or police horse; recreational pursuits such as trail riding or mounted shooting; and competitive sports in both English disciplines, like show jumping, and Western disciplines, like barrel racing. This is in addition to therapy work with children and adults with disabilities, trauma, and sensory issues. Mustangs are extremely hardy, versatile, and impressive animals. 

Demetris Sanders, Supervisor, BLM Southeastern States Wild Horse and Burro Program, explains it this way, “I’ve seen veterans deal with and overcome pain from trauma during Operation Branded. The individual and the horse build a bond and learn to trust each other, using their untapped potential to master their craft, just like Roccay and Gallant.”