Ranch helps socially challenged kids in Las Vegas find their voice through horse therapy

Two years ago, southwest Las Vegas resident Linda Perry was struggling with her then 8-year-old daughter Sara’s behavior at home and in school. Sara was diagnosed with a learning disorder, had trouble speaking, and as a result, became a target of bullying.

So Perry turned to horse therapy at White Horse Youth Ranch, 8390 W. Windmill Lane, a Christian faith-based nonprofit dedicated to helping socially challenged youths ages 5 to 18.

Since opening its doors in 2009, founder Amy Meyer-Terry said the WHY Ranch has helped over 1,000 families better their communication with each other, rebuild gaps that may have been caused by any pain or challenges they’ve experienced and build stronger bonds.

The ranch acts like a refuge for children such as Sara. Along with horse riding , the children are taught leadership skills, responsibility, and how to respect others, among other life lessons. While the programs are free to families in need, the ranch does ask they give back by doing various chores as a team, an aspect of the program meant to strengthen the family’s relationship.

At the WHY Ranch, Perry and her family found support and Sara found the confidence that she needed to come out of her shell. Perry said her daughter is now doing better in school — academically and socially — and takes on more responsibility at home.

“It was a place that gave her success and acceptance,” Perry said. “A horse isn’t judging her for how she spoke — a horse isn’t judging her for how long it takes her to speak — it’s not judging her for how she looks or her (incoordination). She’s like all of us. Once you get a place of success, you build on that.”

For Meyer-Terry, 47, the WHY Ranch is not just a way to honor the legacy of her grandparents, Paul and Helen Meyer, longtime Las Vegas philanthropists known for the Paul E. and Helen S. Meyer Foundation, but also to pay it forward to children going through difficult life experiences as she once did.

Meyer-Terry grew up in a single-parent household in Illinois. Her mother worked hard to support her four children, sometimes taking more than one job at a time.

At school, Meyer-Terry said she was bullied because she was poor and had red hair.

Many of the staff members at WHY Ranch and its volunteers have also gone through adversity and often share their stories with the kids and their families, using their lives as an example that things can get better.

“It’s really empowering for those kids to know that there are other people going through the same things that can help them through this time,” Meyer-Terry said.

Moving forward

Since marrying in 2014, Meyer-Terry said her husband, Curtis Terry, has been an instrumental part of the ranch and helped take it in a new direction. While Meyer-Terry provides gentle, nurturing support to the children they serve, Curtis — having been a sergeant in the National Guard — focuses on instilling life lessons.

“Now, we are really focused on empowering the kids that come here with leadership, problem solving and other skills that can help them through their social adversity and challenges that they still may have, and not just giving them a good time,” Meyer-Terry said.

After bringing several veterans whom he’s met through the local VA Medical Center out to work on the ranch as volunteers and staff members, Curtis was inspired to develop a program for veterans at the WHY Ranch. Realizing the need for veterans to have an informal space where they can gather and be themselves, without the need for alcohol, titles and formalities, was crucial, he said.

Curtis hopes to start a veterans discussion group at the ranch next month.

“Even though we get so much support, sometimes it helps to have support from ourselves, from other veterans, to let them know I felt the same way and that there are people who understand, who aren’t psychologists, who shared the same experiences,” he said.

In its youth programs, Meyer-Terry said the ranch is looking at using its space to teach kids about renewable resources, where their food comes from, and adding basic wood shop lessons into the already-existing programs, along with summer camps in the near future.

Call 702-644-9177 or visit whyranch.org.

To reach Southwest View intern reporter Rocio Hernandez, email rhernandez@viewnew.com or call 702-387-5233. Find her on Twitter: @rociohzz.