If you follow the Retired Racehorse Project’s (RRP’s) Thoroughbred Makeover, chances are you’ve often seen Isabela De Sousa’s name at the top of the results. The young rider has quickly made a name for herself, winning the show jumping division at the Makeover for three years running among her long list of accomplishments.

In recent years there has been a rise in the number of organizations and individual therapists who have turned to horses to help veterans heal. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) as a professional practice only dates back to the mid-1990s, when there were only a few people who were testing out ideas for how to use horses in their social work and theraputic practices. That number grew steadily over the years until 2013, when the Obama administration made federal funds available for groups doing EAP work with veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.