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NDSU Animal Sciences Co-hosting Film Screenings

The film is a documentary about the healing powers of therapeutic riding for a veteran with posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

North Dakota State University’s Animal Sciences Department and the Riding on Angels’ Wings Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program are hosting two screening of “Riding My Way Back,” an award-winning documentary about the healing of therapeutic riding for a veteran with posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

The film will be screened at the Fargo Theater on Monday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. and the NDSU Memorial Union Century Theater on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at noon. Admission to both screenings is free. A panel discussion will follow the Fargo Theater screening.

“Riding My Way Back” chronicles one soldier’s journey back from the brink of suicide. In 2010, Staff Sgt. Aaron Heliker returned from multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with a traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder. When he felt the most desperate and isolated, and was on 42 medications and suicidal, Heliker was introduced to the unlikeliest of saviors: a horse named Fred. Through caring for Fred, Heliker began the difficult process of reconnecting to the world around him and healing the invisible wounds of war that nearly defeated him.

The film’s producers and directors, Oscar nominee Robin Fryday, Peter Rosenbaum and Richie Goldman, have launched the Riding My Way Back Film Project to promote awareness of the healing that therapeutic riding can provide military veterans. The film will be screened at riding centers, universities and mental health centers during Veterans Week, Nov. 9-15.

Riding My Way Back premiered at the GI Film Festival 2014 in May and won the Founders’ Choice Award.

For more information on therapeutic horseback riding, contact Erika Berg, an associate professor in the NDSU Equine Science Program, at (701) 231-9611 or erika.berg@ndsu.edu, or Riding on Angels’ Wings near Felton, Minn., at (218) 359-0007 or execdirectorROAW@aol.com. Visit http://www.ridingmywayback.com to learn more about the film.


NDSU Agriculture Communication - Oct. 31, 2014

Source:Erika Berg, (701) 231-9611, erika.berg@ndsu.edu
Editor:Ellen Crawford, (701) 231-5391, ellen.crawford@ndsu.edu
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