Giving Compass' Take:

• Lakota horse culture in South Dakota is centered around the belief that all living things are connected and can thus react to one another. Combining traditional Lakota horse rituals with equine therapy is now being used to treat PTSD, child trauma and much more. 

• How can funders support organizations like Grey Cloud's that not only preserve traditional methods but help our youth? 

• Learn how Native American children benefit from trauma-informed schools.

Greg Grey Cloud stands in the middle of the arena, thumbs in his hip pockets, beside a black-and-white Paint who wanders and roots aimlessly in the dry sand. The space is slightly smaller than a high-school basketball court, walled in particle board with an arched roof of white plastic that seals in the warmth from the overworked radiant heaters on this chilly northern prairie morning. Mud from the pens outside clings to Grey Cloud's boots and to the bottoms of his jeans. He closes his eyes and inhales. The air smells of coffee and manure and the smoke of burnt sage from the smudging—a ritual that cleanses the energies of the place, and those of the handful of people seated in dusty folding chairs.

Grey Cloud releases a nasal cry, a monophony in Lakota. The Paint raises her head and turns to attention. In English, the prayer song roughly translates to:

The horse nation is here
The horse nation is here for us
It is time for us to look upon them
The horse nation is here

Read the full article on Lakota horse culture helping child trauma by Tony Rehagen at Pacific Standard.