Warhorse Ranch

Background Statement

Heart to Heart ~ Horses with Humans, Together for Healing A Brief Backstory

You might say that it all began in 1991, when the 17-year-old Ventura, California high school graduate, Michael Anthony Lozano, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. A tall boy, with high hopes, young Mike an Eagle Scout, had decided to follow in his father’s and his grandfather’s footsteps by enlisting in the U. S. Military – to proudly serve his Country, as they had.

After completing Marine boot camp at MCRD San Diego, Mike earned his MOS as a Marine Combat Engineer on the eastern seaboard at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and was subsequently stationed there with the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion. He experienced his first deployment in 1994 during Operation Support Democracy in the Bahamas during the Haiti crisis. In 1995 he was again deployed, this time to the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas aboard the USS Nashville and USS Kearsarge as part of the 24th Expeditionary Unit, Special Operations Command ( 24th MEU(SOC) ). This was during the ‘tactical recovery’ of Captain Scott O’ Grady, an Air Force pilot who was shot down over Bosnia.

In 2003, another of Mike’s deployments took him to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. There, Sgt. Lozano was assigned as a Section Leader for AntiTank TOW/Scout Platoon REIN, 2nd Tank Battalion, Regimental Combat Team (RCT-5), 1st Marine Division that spearheaded the Marine assault from Kuwait, through Bagdad and on to north of Tikrit. 5th Marines took part in some of the most intense battles and firefights during the invasion of Iraq to remove the brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein, from power.

In the dangerous combat position of a TOW Missile Gunner and Section Leader, the young man saw more than anyone of any age and any background should see. As a result, he came home damaged, in the way that so many Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen do. Following 19 years and 7 months of combined active and reserve duty in the U. S. Marines, U. S. Air Force Reserves and serving as a Federal Law Enforcement Officer, Mike retired, largely due to the injuries from which he suffered; including PTSD, loss of hearing, and an injury that led to brain surgery.

A dedicated and decorated Marine, Mike earned – among numerous honors – the Navy Achievement Medal with Combat Valor. In one of the great moments of Mike’s life, this particular medal was presented to him by one of his special heroes, General James Mattis, who was his commander at that time.

On a distant, but parallel path, a beautiful young Wisconsin girl was growing up strong – and a little bit wild –– in the company of her two big brothers and her mom, an ICU Nurse who gave her kids a great example of how to work hard, with dedication and no complaints.

In 1991, 14-year-old Valery Leisch saw a movie that ultimately led her to choose a career in forensic psychology and law enforcement. Never a bystander, always a doer and a leader, Val set about a life path whereupon she would earn degrees in Criminal Justice, and in both general and Forensic Psychology.

At the turn of the Century, Val took a hiatus from college to enjoy a measure of serenity, and a healthy portion of adventure. While spending 2 years in Steamboat, caring for 30 plus horses, she found her life’s destination, just west of the Great Divide, on the highway of her dreams. Determined to one day live in Colorado from the time when she was just nine-years-old and her step-dad brought her and her brothers to the Rocky Mountains, Val, at 24, found a place that looked a lot like her rainbow’s end in the big valley where the Yampa and the Elk Rivers meet on their way to the mighty Colorado. In her signature style of resolution and purpose, Val returned to college to begin the journey that she promised herself would one day bring her home to Steamboat.

In 2008, in one of life’s prodigious and providential events, Valery Leisch and Mike Lozano met and became friends during their studies at the Federal Law Enforcement Academy in Glynco, Georgia, where they were both preparing to begin careers in Federal Law Enforcement.

A year later, the friends –– by then both Federal Agents –– got married and another chapter opened for the couple, who shared a powerful desire to protect and serve their homeland. In this dangerous line of work, both Val and Mike were exposed to the darkest horrors of drug running, prostitution, human smuggling, and child-abuse. And they faced the sorrows of preyed upon families who were trying to escape the abject poverty and evil of Mexico. The words heartbreak and anguish don’t begin to describe what Mike and Val observed and experienced in the 12 plus years they were Homeland Security Officers, frequently in life-threatening peril.

Under these conditions, the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) that Mike suffered from his wartime experiences, wreaked havoc on him, and on his family. The situation got so bad that Val insisted that Mike get help for the trouble he didn’t want to admit he had. He listened, because he loved his wife and somewhere inside, he wanted to get well. Mike joined the Wounded Warrior project, got a service dog that protected his heart even more than his person, and began the climb up out of the pit in which he had been abandoned, along with countless other soldiers of his generation.

While taking part in a Wounded Warrior retreat in 2011, Mike was introduced to a little herd of horses to see if they could help him . . . and they did. The program, referred to as “equine-assisted-psychotherapy”, was developed to bring damaged humans together with horses–powerful prey animals whose heightened instincts are unparalleled in the animal kingdom. In the association of horse with humans, hearts speak, one to the other, and healing of unspeakable mental/emotional trauma is enabled.

A seed was planted at that first meeting of good man with good horses. The seed would settle into Mike’s heart where it would flourish over the years, until the time came for it to show itself, so that the new story of a life of continuing service would begin.

From that experience, and the changes it made in Mike, the desire was born in this team of husband and wife to help others find their way across the fields of broken glass that soldiers and other heroes must traverse. And so, the mission of Warhorse Ranch –– 8 years in the making –– has at last come to be.

Maligned for their efforts, and broken by what they see, and what they must do in their attempts to help, the men and women who live to protect the rest of us can find solace in the Warhorse family through connection with others of similar background – and relationships with the horses that will never judge nor criticize them.

This is the backstory of an adventure in healing that Mike and Val and the Warhorse team invite you to join. Wounded or not, we hope you’ll come along. ~ Story by J.L. Hardesty