Horses helping heroes rebound

SHARON  — Some 200 people came to a remote corner of Sharon on Saturday, Sept. 30 to hear from the veterans and first responders who have reclaimed their lives thanks to the efforts of The Equus Effect.

Founder Jane Strong addressed the crowd, saying that the veterans and first responders are best thought of as “guardians.”

“These are the folks who serve us every day — because we can’t.”

When someone calls 911, or when American forces are deployed overseas, “We want someone who knows what to do.”

But the work takes its toll, with veterans and first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and alarming suicide rates.

Compounding the problem is the stigma attached to asking for help.

This is where The Equus Effect comes in, offering programming free of charge for veterans and first responders.

Matty Frank, a former homicide detective from Mt. Vernon, N.Y., led a grey draft horse named Babe around the pavilion. 

After one turn, Frank and Babe started dancing while continuing around the circle.

Afterwards, Frank said he was shot in the line of duty in 2006. He recovered physically, but he struggled with PTSD.

Traditional therapy helped to a point, “but that was nothing compared to working with the horses.”

Frank pointed out that horses are prey animals, not predators like humans.

“They survive by reading people.”

Working with the horses helped him reestablish the personal relationships the PTSD had damaged.

“Just ask my wife,” said Frank.

After the horse demonstrations, the guests assembled inside the pavilion for a successful fundraising appeal.

The veterans and first responders come for a total of 16 hours. The cost is $1,200 per person, and it is free for the guardians.

So the initial appeal was for pledges of $7,200, or one group of six. Several people indicated they were willing to pony up.

Latest News

Kevin Kelly’s After Hours

Kevin Kelly’s After Hours

Kevin Kelly

Photo by Christopher Delarosa
“I was exposed to that cutthroat, ‘Yes, chef’ culture. It’s not for me. I don’t want anyone apologizing for who they are or what they love.”— Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly doesn’t call himself a chef; he prefers “cook.” His business, After Hours, based in Great Barrington, operates as what Kelly calls “a restaurant without a home,” a pop-up dining concept that prioritizes collaboration over competition, flexibility over permanence, and accessibility over exclusivity.

Kelly grew up in Great Barrington and has roots in the Southern Berkshires that go back ten generations. He began working in restaurants at age 14. “I started at Allium and was hooked right off the bat,” he said. He worked across the region from Cantina 229 in New Marlborough to The Old Inn on the Green at Jacob’s Pillow before heading to Babson College in Boston to study business. After a few years in Boston kitchens, he returned home to open a restaurant. But the math didn’t work. “The traditional model just didn’t feel financially sustainable,” he said. “So, I took a step back and asked, ‘If that doesn’t work, then what does?’”

Keep ReadingShow less
restaurants

Books & Blooms’ tenth anniversary

Books & Blooms’ tenth anniversary

Dee Salomon on what makes a garden a garden.

hoto by Ngoc Minh Ngo for Architectural Digest

On June 20 and 21, the Cornwall Library will celebrate its 10th anniversary of Books & Blooms, the two-day celebration of gardens, art, and the rural beauty of Cornwall. This beloved annual benefit features a talk, reception, art exhibit, and self-guided tours of four extraordinary local gardens.

The first Library sponsored garden tour was in June 2010 and featured a talk by Page Dickey, an avid gardener and author. This year’s Books & Blooms will coincide with Ellen Moon’s exhibit “Thinking About Gardens,” a collection of watercolors capturing the quiet spirit of Cornwall’s private gardens. Moon, a weekly storyteller to the first grade at Cornwall Consolidated School and art curator for The Cornwall Library, paints en plein air. Her work investigates what constitutes a garden. In the description of the show, she writes: “there are many sorts...formal, botanical, cottage, vegetable, herb...even a path through the woods is a kind of garden. My current working definition of a garden is a human intervention in the landscape to enhance human appreciation of the landscape.” Also on display are two of her hand-embroidered jackets. One depicts spring’s flowering trees and pollinators. The other, a kimono, was inspired by Yeats’s “The Song of the Wandering Aengus.”

Keep ReadingShow less
cornwall library