Amanda's Story

Having grown up and trained with horses all her life, in 2003 Amanda began working with them in a different fashion - to begin her healing process from depression, anxiety and PTSD.

Encouraged by personal results, Amanda enhanced her proficiency with formal training and certification in EAGALA, Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and several other stress and trauma coaching modalities.

From her training and personal experience, she has developed her own method called Equine Integrated Wellness™. Today she practices and teaches this coaching method, helping over 300 veterans and family members combined to develop the current H.O.O.V.E.S. curriculum

Civilian Bio

Military Bio

2016 990.pdf

Meet The Team

Justin Held

Justin Held is Amanda's husband and Facilities manager at HOOVES.

Kristy Bateson

Kristy is our beloved Barn Manager for HOOVES.

Tristan Moehler

Tristan is a HOOVES Alum who went through his life changing retreat in April 2019. Since then, he has volunteered 3-4 days a week to assist with animal care, retreat operations, and to continue growing by implementing actionable steps towards his life purpose. Recently, Tristan has taken on leadership roles as Retreat Program Manager and Mentor Program Coordinator. Tristan believes that the tools learned during his retreat are so valuable and life changing, he felt inspired to pursue his certification in the Equine Wisdom Integration Method (EWIM). He is currently training to be a facilitator so he can pass on what he has learned, to help veterans turn their post-traumatic stress into their post-traumatic growth. One of the many skills Tristan brings to the HOOVES Community is his mindful pen turning workshop. Tristan guides retreat participants through the pen making process to create a one-of-a-kind gift, sharing how creative expression is an important part of healing and growing.

"Every pen tells a story, what's yours?" – Tristan Mohler

Jaclyn Elliott

Jaclyn is the Operations Manager here at HOOVES. She is a BGSU graduate with a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelors of Science in Human Development and Family Studies. She joined the HOOVES team originally as an intern and has now become a full time member.