Community Outreach

Our Community Outreach programs support Free Rein’s mission by increasing opportunities for new populations in our community to benefit from the horse/human bond. A Sensory Trail provides therapeutic riders as well as other program participants experiences of mindfulness, meditation and physical well-being. For at-risk youth, Free Rein offers an innovative program called Say Whoa to Bullying. Silver Saddles focuses on assisting seniors by increasing strength & mobility while helping with depression. Other services include Grieving Family Riding lessons and riding sessions for those with Post Traumatic Stress. Weight restrictions apply.

Phoebe Buffay Visits

Phoebe Buffay and Zoey are on the Road.

PROJECT ODYSSEY VISIT NOVEMBER 2022

Project Odyssey® is a 12-week mental health program that uses adventure-based learning to help warriors manage and overcome their invisible wounds, enhance their resiliency skills, and empower them to live productive and fulfilling lives. Based on their unique needs, warriors can participate in an all-male, all-female, or couples Project Odyssey.  Free Rein Center had the pleasure of hosting a group at the stables in April 2022

  1. What was the biggest thing you learned from today’s session?
  • To be patient, to learn to be taught.
  • Patience and Flexibility
  • That horses like people and want to trust us. I really like horses, they are gentle. Horses have different temperaments.
  • Me and my horse (Oz-Commander) Both have the same personality – take charge, be in control + be patient. He helped me a lot!
  • The grooming is unique and the horse mannerisms. To be patient with myself and the horse.
  • Horses are pretty cool, calm, and collected and are great at following if you lead correctly.
  • Obedience from the animals, teamwork, leadership
  • That I can do things solo or if my partner is unavailable and it not turn into a disaster.
  • I am not afraid of horses anymore ever since I started doing horsemanship.
  • The biggest challenge for me was sharing my horse with another warrior because I was so excited, and greedy- but it was better doing it this way so I wouldn’t change the program.
  • I learned I have a fear of horses. I felt nervous, scared and very anxious being around the horse, but I still tried to take in the experience.
  • How to bond with a horse.
  • How much a horse can feed off one partners emotions more than the other.

PROJECT ODYSSEY VISIT APRIL 2022

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST THING YOU LEARNED FROM TODAY’S SESSION?

I learned that horses are the gentle powers of the planet.

To stay in the horse’s line of sight.

Horses are like people, if they are loved and nurtured they will show basic love and obedience with one exception, people are evil and horses are not.

Telling someone or something to do is not as easy as it seems.

Sometime the horses just need a second before they’re ready to perform, just like people like us when we anxious/overwhelmed, etc.

To trust the horse.

We have to trust and believe.

That horses are loving animals, that mimic how we feel if your comfortable they’re comfortable.

To be firm but gentle.

Don’t need the horse’s name to get it’s attention.

How working in a calm manner effects how you maneuver the horse.

To stay calm, talk softly, be present with the horse.

John Colflesh
I grew up on a small dairy farm near Delaware, Ohio. I graduated from Ohio University with a B.S. in Physics then spent eight years in the U.S. Navy as nuclear power trained submarine officer. Much of my time in the Navy was spent in Connecticut, where I lived for forty years.
After the Navy, I attained an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. I worked in the nuclear power industry for 36 years at Westinghouse Electric Company in Windsor, CT and Pittsburgh, PA. I had many roles and responsibilities over the years including; project management, marketing, field services management and quality assurance. As part of this work, I traveled all over the U.S., western Europe and parts of Asia.
Also, while in Connecticut: I owned a bicycle shop; served on the board of the local chapter of A Better Chance, in Glastonbury, CT; owned a reining horse (did lots of trail riding); and was a member of the Granby, CT Horse Council.
In 2017, my wife and I both retired from Westinghouse and moved to Brevard. For the first two years here, I did some part time consulting work as an industrial incident investigator and analyst.
I first volunteered for Free Rein as a Horse Leader in 2017 weeks after moving here and have been doing so ever since.