Hometown Hero Award
Dawn Johns Swenson and Jewel Johns Root

After a long day at work, many of us look forward to coming home to the wagging tail or loving purr of our pets. Simply seeing their faces and their unconditional love is enough to make you forget about whatever stress your day may have contained and enjoy the moment. More and more, therapists and psychologists are recognizing the calming powers of animals and they are incorporating therapy dogs and other service animals into more traditional practices. One of the more powerful of these practices is equine-assisted therapy, where patients care for and ride horses. And for some like Dawn Johns Swenson, the powerfully healing and stress relieving experience with her own horse encouraged her to turn her family farm into a place where others can come to find the same comfort.

For Dawn, riding and spending time with her horse Eddie was an essential part of her breast cancer treatments. Her time with Eddie helped relieve some of the stress of going through a life-threatening disease and he helped her heal emotionally. She says that “horses are empathetic and emotional. There’s nothing like a horse hug to make you feel better.”

The gentle nature of horses and the emotional support they provide pushed Dawn and her sister Jewel Johns Root  to start an equine-facilitated mental health program at their farm. Flying Horse Stable is the only accredited facility like this in the area. They house 10 therapy horses and employ three credentialed specialists and two specifically trained to work with the hundreds of clients who come to the farm seeking solace from various emotional and mental health disorders. For people with emotional or communicative disorders, working with a horse or simply being near one creates a special relationship that gives the patient a peace of mind that they might not have had in a traditional setting. Patients build trust and respect with the horse they partner with and in turn, the horse provides unconditional love and affection.

Turning the farm that had been in their family for six generations and 156 years into a horse therapy facility was a natural progression for the sisters. Dawn previously worked for eight years as a school psychologist at Logan High School. She also worked in Black River Falls, Wazeka, and Holmen. Jewel went to school for a degree in K-3 education and previously taught school in Minnesota. She now commutes to the farm from her house near the Twin Cities.

Dawn and Jewel are both certified riding instructors and equine specialists and together they work with adults and children through a wide variety of community groups and organizations. Some of their clients come to them through La Crosse County Human Services, New Horizons Shelter and at-risk youth programs. They also take private clients. Flying Horse works especially with patients working through post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, anger management, eating disorders, sexual assault, attention deficit disorder and many of the autism spectrum disorders.

Christin Skolnik, administrator of the La Crosse County Comprehensive Community Services program, believes that one of the keys to the success of Flying Horse is the sisters themselves. “They’re so patient and very thoughtful in the way that they let their clients go at their own pace,” Skolnik tells the La Crosse Tribune. “I think they’re really creative in the way that they are able to help people bring about change.”

For Jewel, the horse is what makes the experience at Flying Horse Stable different from traditional therapy. “It’s amazing how horses can sense what people are feeling,” she says. “The horse really is the therapist.”

It is the partnership between Dawn, Jewel and their horses that brings people to Flying Horse. Together, they provide a safe haven in our community and help people who may be struggling with patience and kindness. And that is why they are this week’s Hometown Heroes.

So congratulations to Dawn, Jewel, Eddie and everyone else at Flying Horse. Your unconditional service to our area has no doubt provided hundreds with the care and attention in the time when they need it most. You have taken something that helped you through a difficult time and you now share it with the La Crosse region.

Keep up the good work and continue to be Hometown Heroes.

Hometown Hero is a regular feature put together by Rep. Steve Doyle (D-Onalaska). If you have any suggestions of a Hometown Hero, send a short description of why you think this person should be a Hometown Hero and contact information of both you and the nominee to rep.doyle@legis.wisconsin.gov.