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Meet Our Team

At Mustang Forces, our horses are an integral part of the team. While we do use a mental health professional in most classes, the horses are our “true” therapists. Horses have the ability to mirror emotions and feelings of their handlers. While humans are sometimes able to hide or cover up their emotions, horses never hide their emotions and will react to the feelings of the handler. This can help people identify and work through their true emotions.

The Horses

The Horses

Celsie

Celsie was born in 2006 in the wild and captured as a 2-year-old.  She was adopted in late November 2009 from the Bureau of Land Management and has become a trusting partner for anyone who is around her.  Celsie enjoys long slow rides (her favorite speed is “sloth” speed) and loves to stop and say hi to anyone who is outside in their yard or walking on the trails.  She loves carrots and apples and will stand with you all day just to be with you.

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Calypso

Calypso was born in 2015 in the wild and captured as a 3-year-old.  She was adopted in a blind draw for a Mustang Training Challenge in 2019 where she finished 3rd in her division.  Calypso was an easy horse to train and tries her hardest to do what is being asked of her.  Calypso is becoming a solid riding horse and is very patient.

Pistol Annie

Pistol Annie, born in the wild in 2020 was caught for the Mustang Training Challenge in 2021.  She gained her name as she was quite a pistol at pick-up day at the Bureau of Land Management corrals.    She loves kids and enjoys being with people.  She made an appearance in a parade shortly after the competition and loved the attention from the crowd, she reminded everyone of a rodeo queen waiving at the crowd with a huge smile on her face.

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Lola

Lola is almost 2 years old and is the programs only non-mustang. She is an Appendix, meaning she is a thoroughbred and quarter horse mix. She takes her time to think about what she is learning and retains it for later. She loves attention and wants to be in your back pocket. She is very curious and always wants to know what's going on and what you're working on!

The Board

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Joe L.

President

Joined the United States Marine Corps in 1983. After Boot Camp, was assigned to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA to study Arabic. This is where I met and married my wife, a member of the United States Air Force, studying Arabic as well. I separated from the Marine Corps in 1990, while working at the National Security Agency. I was then employed by the NSA as a civilian. Upon my wife separating from the Air Force, we relocated to her home town in Washington State. I joined the Benton County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy sheriff in the fall of 1992. I was selected as Washington State’s Law Enforcement Officer of the Year in 2003, by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I retired after 23 years of service in 2015. During my time with the Sheriff’s Office, I worked with all departments but mostly as a deputy on Patrol, as a School Resource Officer in the Finley School District, and as a Public Information Officer (representing the Sheriff’s Office with the local media.) I also served as a Lieutenant overseeing the civil and clerical divisions. While serving my community as a deputy sheriff, I volunteered with the Young Marines program, helping to start the first Young Marines unit in the area in 1995. I assisted in starting a second unit in 1998. That unit, the Columbia River Young Marines earned the title of National Young Marine Unit of the Year in 2005. With knowledge gleaned from working as a deputy sheriff (and supplemented by an assignment as a school resource officer working in a public high school,) I began teaching adults in the Young Marines program about current drug trends nationwide, as the Drug Demand Reduction Resource Officer. Upon retiring from the Sheriff’s Office, I was employed by the Young Marines program as the first Deputy Director, West Coast Operations. My area of operations was west of Ohio, to include outside of CONUS in the Pacific. In addition to my role as a Deputy Director, I maintained the role of the Drug Demand Reduction Resource Officer. I assisted in developing the Young Marines’ Closing the Gate on Drugs initiative and continued to produce classes, lesson plans and information publications for the organization. Under my leadership, the Young Marines earned the Department of Defense’s Fulcrum Shield Award eleven times. The only military affiliated youth organization to do so more than twice. I live Washington State, still married to the young Air Force lady I met in Monterey, CA, over 37 years ago. We have two children, a daughter and a son. Our son, a college graduate, served in the Air Force as an Arab Linguist for six years, and is now back in college studying computer animation. Our daughter is an emergency dispatcher for our local first responders. I also have a Bachelor’s Degree from Excelsior College, New York. I am a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association.

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Kasey

Secretary

Kasey has been active in the horse community since she was a child. Kasey and her horse Precious were members of both 4-H and Pony Club during that time. She later also participated in WAHSET throughout her high school career. Kasey first started to volunteer at equine assisted therapy centers in 2014 in Pullman. After college, Kasey moved back to Tri Cities where she began to volunteer for another local equine assisted therapy center. Kasey has a new project horse, Sister, who she intends to train for horseback archery! Kasey is a chemical engineer and superintendent at PCA in Wallulla.

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Chrstine

Treasurer

Hello! My name is Christine Canter. I have been riding and working with horses since I was 6 years old. I have been a professional groom on and off since I was 15 years old working on the hunter/jumper circuits in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida. I have also been a riding instructor and teach horsemanship from the hoof up. Horses have been my passion since the very first ride I ever took on a horse. I took Equestrian Studies at Averett College when I went off to college to pursue my dream of wor king with horses as my profession. Even though that was not my path in life, my passion has never dimmed. I currently own 2 horses; one is a 29-year-old Arab/Quarter mix mare that I have had for 23 years and my newest one is a 4-year-old gelding Mustang. I have always admired our Armed Forces and First Responders and now have an even stronger connection since my son is in the Army at OCS (Officer Candidate School) and my sister and her husband are retired Alaska State Troopers. I am proud to be part of Mustang Forces and to be able to give back to the men and women who have given so much of themselves for me, my family and our great nation.

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Bob

Board Member

Hello, my name is Robert (Bob) Smith and I have the honor of being the board of the Mustang Forces team. I am a Vietnam Veteran and have been around horses all my life. I have broke, worked with, and trained rodeo horses and roping horses for the past 45 years and now I have the honor of being involved with Mustang Forces.

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