Our First Official Summer: The Herd Takes Shape

July 2025 - This summer, something we had been carrying quietly for a long time finally stepped into the light.

It Takes a Herd launched its first program cohort as an official nonprofit.

There were no grand stages. No ribbon cuttings. No spotlights. Just horses in the arena, a circle of chairs arranged in a horseshoe, lots of purple shirts and families walking through the gate with a mixture of hope and hesitation.

We knew what we had built in theory. What we didn’t yet know was how it would feel in real time. Within the first hour, we began to understand.

Care partners who had been carrying the invisible weight of caring for a person living with dementia (PLWD) found themselves sitting beside others who understood without explanation. There were nods of recognition, shared laughter, and audible exhales.

Care recipients (PLWD) met the horses with curiosity, sometimes tentativeness, and in many cases, confidence that surprised even their partners. Gentle hands on warm equine shoulders. Quiet moments of connection. Small victories that felt anything but small.

That first cohort became a second, and somewhere between those early sessions, it became clear that something real was taking root.

This program was never about riding. It was never about performance. It was about returning to partnership.

Each week, we introduced one simple step in what would become our guiding framework, and by the end of our second cohort, we saw care partners step out of “manager” mode and back into relationship. We saw individuals living with dementia experience success, autonomy, and joy. We saw moments of normalcy reappear.

And perhaps most importantly, we saw a Herd forming — a group of people who no longer felt alone in the journey.

This summer confirmed something we believed deeply from the beginning: dementia care must address the partnership, not just the diagnosis. Horses simply give us a powerful way to make that visible.

Two cohorts.

One newly formed foundation.

And a clear sense of purpose.

We are grateful for this beginning — and we are poised for great things to come.

The gate is open, and the Herd is galloping.