GREENFIELD, Ind. — Julie Evans was nervous about going places with her husband, Larry, a Vietnam veteran, discharged in 1967 with full disability.

“He was pretty angry. Anything would set him off,” she explained.

Larry Evans is calmer now. Since June, he has participated in a Horses for Heroes program at Edelweiss Equine Assisted Therapy Center in Greenfield.

“The horses have a lot to do with it,” the lance corporal Marine said. “The horses, and the people that work there.”

Like so many Vietnam veterans, Evans carried anger and guilt around like a close companion. He now has three fellow soldiers who are learning to ride horses with him. Shirley Mascoe, executive director of Edelweiss, sees great results from the pro bono program.

“The number-one problem is post traumatic distress for current veterans ... Even people who are not interested in (talking) build close relationships with the horses,” Mascoe said. “We had a veteran who was shaking all over when he first got on a horse. Now he is one of the biggest show-offs.”

Riding the horses helps to improve core strength and coordination, as well. A retired chief warrant officer for the Navy, Ralph Sweet, almost 75, is developing better balance, he said.

“I’m not wounded or have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Even if you’re not suffering with those, it’s a good program for veterans to come out and do. It helps your body all over,” he said.

Sweet was in the Navy 22 years and in Vietnam from 1967-68. He was not in combat, but was stranded without communications for three days in Vietnam.

“I was angry at my government and felt guilt that I came back and so many didn’t ... There wasn’t anybody that didn’t come back with some issue,” Sweet said.

The veterans, dressed in patriotic shirts, have opened four horse shows to cheering crowds. This has been refreshing for the Vietnam veterans, who were instructed to hide their uniforms when they came home, Evans said.

“I look at everything in a different perspective,” said Evans, who has plowed through 200 jobs over the years. “I found it in the horses and people.”

Mascoe hopes more veterans will take advantage of the program next year.

She said equine therapy can help people who have lost limbs gain greater balance and muscle strength. The horses also teach relational skills.

Horses mirror moods, too; they respond negatively to negative emotions, teaching the veteran that his behavior can affect others, and making it necessary to modify behavior in order to work successfully with the animal, reads a flyer on Horses for Heroes.

Many male volunteers, including local firefighters, have worked with the veterans to make the program successful. Edelweiss is always looking for more service-oriented volunteers.

Edelweiss is in its eighth season and works with people with cognitive and physical disabilities. Mascoe said they have helped clients aged 4-80 years, with a range of disabilities from autism to stroke.

They have grown from two horses, 12 riders and 20 volunteers to 12 horses, 75 riders and 150 volunteers, all on five acres. To make it all work, the horses rotate onto other pastures.

Mascoe wants to buy a 30- to 50-acre plot with an indoor facility so they can stay open year-round. A more immediate goal is to raise $3,000 for Horses for Heroes, overseen by Path Professional Assoc. of Therapeutic Horsemanship, International, and implemented at Edelweiss free of charge. It is the first pilot Horses for Heroes in the state.

The Noblesville, Ind., Elks Club will host a Nov. 11 Veterans Day ceremony. Their fundraising goal is to sponsor a veteran on a horse for a year. For more information, contact Mascoe by email at info@edelweisscenter.org or call the office at 317-861-8617.