Bill seeks funding to expand equine therapy for first responders

During his first therapy session with a retired thoroughbred, Lakeville police officer Nick Jacobson was told: “You can lie to a therapist, but you can never lie to a horse.”

The intuitive nature of thoroughbreds is key to the equine-assisted therapy program at Abijah’s on the Backside, which helped the 11-year police officer and Marine combat veteran who lost half his squad in Afghanistan reengage with civilian life.

The House Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee laid over HF261, which would appropriate $250,000 each year of the 2026-27 biennium from the General Fund to support the work of Abijah’s on the Backside in providing therapy to first responders.

“My transition out of the Marine Corps and into civilian life was harder than I expected,” Jacobson said Wednesday. “I was trying to get back into any fight where I felt like I belonged.”

Many attempts at therapy left him feeling he couldn’t be fixed until a friend and Navy SEAL recommended Abijah’s. Since then, Jacobson noticed he is more present as a father, husband and police officer. “I’m enjoying life more and more, and it’s all thanks to Abijah’s,” he said.

Rep. Jon Koznick (R-Lakeville), who sponsors the bill, said the program is particularly well-suited to help first responders work through their unique traumas.

The Legislature provided $250,000 in fiscal years 2024 and 2025 to Abijah’s as a pilot program, and Koznick said it’s proven successful. It has served 106 first responders, and 102 have remained on the job.

The bill under consideration would expand eligibility to current and retired peace officers, full-time or volunteer firefighters, ambulance services personnel, dispatchers and correction officers, who could receive services at no cost.

Abijah’s founder Sally Mixon, who has a master’s degree in professional counseling, said she is honored that the organization’s growth has come mainly from word of mouth.