So Lynn, we're gonna start off by saying tell us a little about yourself, a little bit about the organization, and what was the impetus for this campaign?

Thank you, Julie and Emily.

And yeah, I'm Lynn Thomas.

My background is as a mental health professional, and actually I did not have a background with horses, but I got involved incorporating horses in mental health services and saw how powerful it, it is in changing lives in a way that I've not seen in any other setting or any other approach.

And so that started me on a path of involving horses in mental health service for almost 30 years now.

And, and so as you can see, horses really impacted my life, and I've been dedicated to them ever since.

We started Horses for Mental Health as a nonprofit organization back in 2021, and you guys can probably relate to this, Julie and Emily with American Horse Council, with the belief that when we gather people together and gather organizations together, we can be stronger, louder, and have a be- more effectively get out our message when we do it all together.

So for listeners kind of new to Horses for Mental Health and, and new to Horsetober, what specifically is this campaign kind of all about?

So what is Horstober other than the best month I've never heard of?

Well, thank you guys for having me on again.

I'm excited to be like part of a milestone another thousand episodes later.

That's awesome.

And yeah, we do Horses for Mental Health was founded to amplify awareness of the impact horses have in mental health services and to support programs out there who are providing support.

those kinds of programs.

And so we've always had it in our mind to do something in the fall.

Is that correct? That's absolutely right.

That's perfect.

Okay, great.

Thanks.

Uh, yeah, so Horsetober, we wanted to do something that would involve anyone who loves horses, whether you ride or don't ride, whether horses are involved in all sorts of different diverse activities throughout the equine industry.

And so we came up with something to, to celebrate that horse-human connection through a symbol, the symbol of the braid.

And I've always wanted to do something with the braid because it's so connected to the equine industry, but it's such a beautiful symbol of relationship and connection, and stronger together, and weaving our stories together.

There's so much we can do with that.

Awesome.

Uh, w- have you ever had moments like that where, "Oh, my God, I think we caught a screaming child or a crying child," and it turned out, no, it was a raccoon [laughs] down, you know, down the way in the forest?

Yes.

Yes, we, um, went to an abandoned house out, out my way here, and on video we thought, 'cause we were leaning in through the broken windows filming, and we thought we got a door moving, and, you know, we were ecstatic and so excited.

But when we went back to try to, to replay it, it was just all shadows and lighting.

There, there was-

Mm-hmm.

We, we do have a picture of one on our Facebook page.

Becca had happened to be, um, in the part of the cemetery where children were buried, and there is an, there is a very round-looking orb, and it does look like there is a baby face in it.

Yeah.

And I had a friend, he had passed away, like, five days prior to us going there.

Now, he didn't live in this town-The cemetery, and it was my first time in that cemetery, of my name being yelled by a man, and it sounds just like him.

So that's why I think the spirit box just helps spirits come through because, you know, he's not in that cemetery buried.

Mm-hmm.

But the, the moment, the moment I set foot in their house, it wasn't on their property where, in the shed where we found the headstones or anything, you know, and they had said they felt uncomfortable out in a certain area, but it wasn't for me like that outside.

It was the moment we came into their house and we started doing our investigating.

I just, yeah.

Uh, w- have you ever had moments like that where, "Oh my God, I think we caught a screaming child or a crying child," and it turned out, no, it was a raccoon [laughs] down, you know, down the way in the forest.

Yes.

Yes, we, um, went to an abandoned house out, out my way here, and on video we thought, 'cause we were leaning in through the broken windows filming, and we thought we got a door moving.

And, you know, we were ecstatic and so excited.

But when we went back to try to, to replay it, it was just all shadows and lighting.

There, there wa-

Mm-hmm.

We, we do have a picture of one on our Facebook page.

Yeah.

And I had a friend, he had passed away, like, five days prior to us going there.

Now, he didn't live in this town.

The cemetery, you know, it was my first time in that cemetery, of my name being yelled by a man, and it sounds just like him.

So that's why I think the spirit box just helps spirits come through because, you know, he's not in that cemetery buried.

Mm-hmm.

But the, the moment, the moment I set foot in their house, it wasn't on their property where, in the shed where we found the headstones or anything.

You know, and they had said they felt uncomfortable out in a certain area, but it wasn't for me like that outside.