After an accident, Sheila McMillian agreed to give up riding horses, but not working with horses
NIXA, MISSOURI – Less than a mile from the scenic bank of the James River, just outside of Nixa, Mo., is Redemption Ranch Therapy Horses. The ranch is comprises of 13 miniature horses, one miniature dwarf horse and four miniature donkeys. These 18 rescued, purchased, trained and therapy animals are the pride and joy of Rex and Sheila McMillan, along with their small, but hardworking crew, at the Redemption Ranch.
Sheila suffered a spinal cord injury several years ago, due to an accident while riding a standard-sized horse. She underwent surgery and several long years of rehabilitation and healing. Rex was adamant about her not getting back on a horse after her accident. She agreed, but did make one stipulation. She wanted mini horses.
After visiting the couples’ Uncle Otis in the nursing home, they learned from one of the nurses that several of the residents had not received visitors for three years or longer. After much prayer and deliberation, the couple started adopting miniature horses (and donkeys) from rescue situations to use as visitation therapy. Thus, Redemption Ranch Therapy Horses was born.
The rehabilitation is both for the horses and donkeys as well as the guests they serve. That clientele is made up of local nursing homes, public schools, churches, small groups, special needs children and adults in the southern Springfield, Nixa, Ozark and Republic areas. The couple started Redemption Ranch Therapy Horses to provide a home to abused, neglected, or re-homed miniature horses and donkeys. Their subsequent vision was to provide a community ministry to those with special abilities.
Each of the 18 animals that call Redemption Ranch home have a uniquely special story. A few of them were malnourished and mistreated. The hours of training and therapy provided to allow them to work with the public was a sacrificial gift of love. Several of the equine family were owner surrendered, due to death, illness or the mounting financial inability to care for them.
Sheila recalls taking the horses to a nursing facility during the height of COVID. She led them up to the residents’ outer windows and allowed the elderly and the horses to visit from a safe 6-foot distance, through the window of their room. She recalled how much the residents enjoyed this experience during such a lonely time, when they were not allowed essential visits from family and friends.
“It was the most valuable work we have done,” she said. One of the residents, with tears of joy in her eyes, said how much this visit meant to her during such an isolated and discouraging time.
Sheila and Rex see their ranch as a ministry. They feel God has richly blessed them and they wish to pour that blessing onto both their therapy animals as well as the clientele who benefit from the services. Each horse or donkey is welcomed to the ranch with a new name.
All of the animals’ names are biblical. How do they get those names?
“Whatever the Holy Spirit leads me to name them,” Sheila responded. There is a rather forward mare named Delilah, with mesmerizing light blue eyes, a shy blonde miniature named JeRico James, a miniature dwarf horse named Minerva Jane, and several others.
“My therapy babies provide just as much therapy to me as I do to them,” Shelia said.
The ranch offers arts, crafts, and “pony stories” for children, in addition to a petting zoo, supervised handling of the animals, and several tested therapeutic exercises.
Sheila knows her horses and donkeys well. She knows which ones are capable of working with adults and which ones yield the patience required for younger children. She trains then herself and makes absolutely certain the horses are fully vetted, tested, and insured before using them in the therapy program.
Not all of the animals at the ranch are suited for therapy animals.
“But all God’s creatures have a divine purpose,” Sheila said. “I have a couple I will never use offsite, but they may be ‘herd leaders,’ providing necessary therapy to another horses and donkeys with special needs, allowing them to fully invest in their role as therapy to the humans that benefit from their services.”
Redemption Ranch Therapy Horses offer visits to schools, churches or care facilities from late Marsh to Nov. 1. They are open to ranch visits during the winter.
For Sheila, there is much more to working with therapy horses, which comes from a higher power.
“Sharing the love of Christ; touching people’s lives wherever they are in their journey, from birth to the grave,” she said. “We are a Christ-centered ministry. We want our lives (and actions) to preach and teach the love of God. We love and respect each animal here and the gift they are to those whom God puts in our path.”
