Oct. 30, 2014

NDSU animal sciences to co-host film screenings

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The NDSU Department of Animal Sciences and the Riding on Angels Wings Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program are scheduled to host two screenings of “Riding My Way Back,” an award-winning documentary about the healing power of therapeutic riding for a veteran with posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. 

The film is scheduled to be screened at the Fargo Theater on Monday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. and at the NDSU Memorial Union Century Theater on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at noon. Admission to both screenings is free and open to the public. 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.

The film’s producers and directors, Oscar nominee Robin Fryday, Peter Rosenbaum and Richie Goldman, 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 nationwide 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 Founder’s Choice Award.

For more information on therapeutic horseback riding, contact Erika Berg, associate professor in the equine science program, at 701-231-9611 or erika.berg@ndsu.edu, or Riding on Angels’ Wings near Felton, Minnesota, at 218-359-0007 or execdirectorROAW@aol.com. Visit www.ridingmywayback.com to learn more about the film.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.

 

 

 

 

 

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