Unique Equine Program Helps Veterans Battle PTSD

Successful therapy uses horses' intuitive nature to bring about healing

Canadian Forces veteran CJ Wilneff and Partner at the Can Praxis ranch. The Can Praxis equine program is helping Wilneff, who served in Afghanistan and suffers from PTSD, regain a sense of control over his life. Courtesy CJ Wilneff

Soon after Canadian Forces veteran C.J. Wilneff returned home from Afghanistan in 2010, he began to show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Struggling with flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, depression, body tremors, and a spiralling substance addiction, it was two years before he finally sought help.

That step led him to Can Praxis, a unique program that uses horses to help PTSD sufferers and their families heal. Now, having almost completed the program, Wilneff says he is regaining a sense of control over his life.

“I was hiding before and I wasn’t being open and honest about everything—all of my thoughts and where I was mentally,” he says, adding that the program has helped him improve his relationship with fiancée Stacey Quinn.

If you're having a stressful day it doesn't take long for the horse to pick up on it.

— Canadian Forces veteran C.J. Wilneff