STAFF

James Ragland Jr.
US Army
8 years US Army Infantryman, Retired 2014

2 Afghanistan Tours North Carolina Native

Cowboy Up! Graduate and Instructor.

Back in NC James is a certified Master Dog Trainer and when not training dogs he can be found working leather into handcrafted products.

Gerald Valentine, MD
Cowboy Up! Program Psychiatrist
& VA Staff Research Psychiatrist. Formerly at Yale School of Medicine he now resides in Santa Fe.

Provides intake oversight and followup for our veteran programs.

SFC Neal Riley
US Army Special Forces - Senior 18 D SF MEDIC,

OIF/OEF Advisor Our first program medic,

friend and brother who designed our

"Cowboy Care Program"

for medical emergencies on the

ranch and on the range.

Dave Moran

Retired USMC EOD Diver. OIF ‘06, 07’, ‘08, ‘09. OEF ‘10.

Has worked all over Southeast Asia, Middle East, and South Pacific as an EOD Team Leader and platoon Sgt. Found Horses For Heroes online during his transition out of the service and never left.

National Advisory Board

Glenn R. Schiraldi,Ph.D, Lt. Col. (USAR, Ret.) Vietnam veteran. Resiliency Advisor

Master Sergeant Leroy Petry, US Army Ranger (Ret.), Medal of Honor Recipient (Afghanistan), Senior Advisor

Hon. Arthur Gajarsa, Judge (Ret.) US Circuit Court of Appeals, Sr. Legal Advisor

Nicole Owens, Esq. Legal Advisor

Col. Tim Hale, USAF Special Ops (Ret.), Fmr. Cabinet Secretary NM Dept. of Veterans' Services

Jim Papineau, Naval Special Warfare (SEAL) Officer (Ret.), Warrior Mentor Advisor

SFC Dana Bowman, US Army Special Forces, Abilities Advisor

Ximena Morales, MD Currently serving as a Neurologist in High Point, NC.

Myles Culbertson, Executive Director NM Livestock Board (Ret.) President, Culbertson Associates Ranch Consultants

Alexandra Eckhoff, DVM Program Veterinarian

Christina Savitsky, Path certified therapeutic riding instructor since 1999. Instrumental in our initial instructor development program.

Wayne Winters, Horse Health Advisor and Farrier

Lt. Col. Darrell "Moe" Elmore, US Army Special Forces ( Delta Force) (Ret.), Special Projects Advisor

Capt. Ralph W. Galati, US Airforce, ret., Decorated POW, Veterans Issue Advisor

CSM Alfred "Greg" Birch, SFOD-D ( Delta Force) Ret., Warrior Mentor Advisor

Judy Schneider, LISW, has been a clinical social worker for over 25 years

Tim O'Byrne, Editor, Working Ranch Magazine

Jeffrey A. Lowdermilk, Military Historian, Photographer, Author

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For Our Four-Legged Staff Instructors please see our HORSES AS HEALERSpage.

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Bianca Shannon
Adjunct Cowboy Up! Instructor
Bianca was born and raised as an Army kid in Italy.
She first started riding when she was 9 years old - as a 4-H member she competed in
hunter jumper and dressage. Studied physical anthropology at Hunter College she had the opportunity to research wild mountain gorillas in Uganda. However, she is at her true passion of working with horses, and is now a designer of Wildrags ~ Check them out at KitSantaFe.com

Honorary / Adjunct Team:

Command Sergeant Major Debbie Manzanares

US Army

Horses For Heroes Ambassador &

Volunteer Extraordinaire

Carl "Gunny" Hawkins
USMC RECON Veteran.
Life long working ranch cowboy worked with Tom Goodnight, 6666 Ranches,
and Singleton Ranches just to name a few.
Owner of the world class Hawkins Chuckwagon.

RIP brother.

NOTE: Carl passed away

JUNE 20-2021 and will be sorely missed.

Making History!!!

One of the Wyoming Army National Guard’s most distinguished units made history during a Jan. 4 ceremony as it welcomed a new senior enlisted leader. Deborah Manzanares became the first female command sergeant major of a COARNG field artillery unit – and one of the first women to fill that role in the field artillery at large – when she accepted the colors of the 3rd Battalion, 157th Field Artillery Regiment.

CSM Manzanares also serves on the Villanova University VESL Training Team.

Alroy Billiman
US Army
Combat wounded in Iraq.
First Native American graduate of our Cowboy Up! Program. Native American Peer Mentor Support Specialist. Manages his family ranch on the Navajo reservation.

Currently working on a Horses For Heroes NM collaborative water restoration project for his ranch on the Navajo Reservation with Villanova Universities Humanitarian Engineering program.

He also serves on the Villanova University VESL Training Team.

* Sorting at Bonanza Creek Ranch

Our All Volunteer Instructor Crew (Proverbs 27:17)

Wes Studi
US Army Combat Vietnam Veteran, horseman extraordinaire &

Cowboy Up! Instructor.

Also the Oscar award star of such notable films Geronimo,

Last of the Mohicans,

Comanche Moon, Avatar & Heat.

Nancy De Santis
Nancy oversees the program administration and development for Cowboy Up! and Wisdom Way For Warriors. She is a Resilience Coach and a certified Equine Gestalt Coach. As well she is the Founder of Wisdom Way For Warriors, a wholistic coaching program available here at Crossed Arrows Ranch through Horses For Heroes - NM, Inc.

Nancy is a CCHI certified riding instructor and certified Reiki Master.
Nancy's specialized training is in Integrative Wellness for Veterans, Pastoral Care with Veterans and Families, Military Culture, Veteran Suicide, Invisible Wounds of War, Bereavement, Mediation

Restoring the Soul from War, Interpersonal Neurobiology, Mindfulness, Neuroscience and is a Certified Trauma Professional and a Neurosculpting® Ambassador.

Nancy is also a member of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (icisf) and certified

in Pastoral Crisis Intervention through the University of Maryland BC and icisf. She is an EGCM® Associate Instructor teaching EGCM Graduates on how to work with veterans and non-military who have experienced trauma. She serves as adjunct instructor for Villanova University’s Humanitarian Engineering and International Development Graduate School Leadership program. Nancy’s Awards received include: 2014 New Mexico Humanitarian Award, the 2022 New Mexico Behavioral Health Star Award and the 2023 New Mexico True Heroes Award.

P.L. Dillon

US Air Force Veteran

Horses For Heroes Roving Ambassador

*Pictured with horse-healer 'Jack'

Brian "Hammer" Johnson
US Army
Combat wounded Iraq
Cowboy Up! Bunkhouse Specialist instrumental

in building our Warrior Bunkhouse

Chris Chaisson
US Army
101st Airborne Div. wounded in Iraq
Cowboy Up! Graduate & Instructor. Chris has worked

for US Congress in their Wounded Warrior program

in veterans outreach. If you need a boat mechanic in FL contact him through Monkey Grunt!

CWO Joe Streaker
Adjunct Cowboy Up! Instructor.
Raised on a Virginia Thoroughbred farm,
Joe has started colts for the track, worked on

several ranches, and has done everything

from foxhunting to ranch roping and cutting.
Currently serving on active duty as a US Army Blackhawk Combat Search and Rescue helicopter pilot

Joe previously served as a Santa Fe County Firefighter /EMT and currently flies for Frontier Airlines.

Cadre

HORSES FOR HEROES - NEW MEXICO, INC.™
COWBOY UP!

Eric Yorty
US Army
101st Airborne Div. wounded in Iraq
Cowboy Up! Graduate & Instructor
and has a Bachelors degree in criminology.

When Eric is in town he's often found lending his talents in teaching American Horsemanship here with us.

Brian Ray
Retired "mustang" Lt. Col. with 29 years of US Army service.
He deployed to Iraq in 2007 and 2010 as a military advisor to the Iraqi army.
Born and raised in New Mexico he was able to get his last duty
assignment in Santa Fe to be close to family. He keeps the ranch and facilities in working order, you can also catch him cooking lunch for the crew, is an assistant instructor
and all around top hand.

*Brian with SSG. Joel Tavera and Junior

Rick Iannucci OCF
Retired U.S. Marshal and former Green Beret ( 18 C -Combat Engineer Sgt.).

Horses For Heroes - NM, Inc. Founder & Executive Director and Instructor. A rancher and Ordained Priest ( Order of Celtic Franciscans OCF - Province of the Southwest and Indian Country) .

He currently serves as the Chaplain for the New Mexico State Senate and is the National Chaplain and Chaplaincy Section Chair for the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA.org)

He is currently an adjunct instructor for the Villanova University Humanitarian Engineering Division ~Villanova Engineering Service Learning Program (VESL).

He commanded a Special Missions Unit in Colombia, has served as an instructor at the US Military Academy at West Point, and was a member of the elite US Marshals Special Operations Group (SOG).

He also served as the State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Law Enforcement Liaison to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence ( ODNI)

He is the recipient of the Attorney Generals Distinguished Service Award, the US Marshals Service Directors Award and the National Tactical Officers Association Award of Merit for his work in Colombia. In 2010 he received the American Red Cross Real Heroes Award for his current work with military veterans. In 2014 he received the New Mexico Humanitarian Award.

In 2024 he received the University of Massachusetts William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences Veterans Excellence Award.

He combines a lifetime of horsemanship training with his military and police special operations training and experience into this one of a kind program. He holds Degrees and Post Graduate Certificates from Neumann University (Franciscan), Baylor University~Truett Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School(Trauma Informed Pastoral Care), the University of Maryland BC /ICSF (Pastoral Crisis Intervention), Trinity College Dublin and St. Bernards School of Theology and Ministry (Liturgy and the Sacraments).

He is a Life Member of the Special Forces Association (D-7014 L) and a Member of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains ( NACC)