"Warrior within"

Saying Lacy Jo Evans was born into a horse riding community would be an understatement. Her mother grew up gaming and barrel racing and her father was a bull rider. It was a natural evolution for her and her brother — who has been shoeing horses in North Clark County for over a decade — to become riders as well.

Evans gamed and barrel raced all through her childhood, noting that it felt like they traveled to various rodeos throughout Washington and Oregon every summer weekend when she was young. She competed in high school as well, even winning state in pole bending in 2004, before graduating from Battle Ground High School in 2005. After graduation she joined the Marine Corps.  

During her time as a Marine Evans served as a heavy equipment operator and saw combat on a number of occasions during her tours in Afghanistan. But even as a Marine, she never lost her love of horses and would spend as much time as she could riding whenever she came home.

When her time in the military was done, Evans enrolled at the University of North Carolina where she graduated with a degree in peace, war and defense with the goal of being an advocate for veterans.

Having just moved back home to Amboy last spring, Evans is already having an impact on veterans and according to her, she’s only getting started.

Evans’ first goal was to put together an all Veterans Mounted Color Guard — within two months a group was formed and marching in a parade.

“We got a couple volunteers and a couple people who had never ridden a horse before,” she said.

The group would go on to do a number of other parades in the area and plans on doing more.

This coming summer Evans also plans on launching a program called Warrior Within, which will help local veterans meet and will utilize horseback riding and archery to help veterans deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other challenges they may be facing. She was inspired to start the group after one of her friends invited her to join a mounted archery group when she moved home.

“The Warrior Within program is going to be about embracing your inner warrior and coming to terms with things that may have happened in life — we’re all warriors,” she explained.

Evans said giving veterans the opportunity to ride and bond with a horse has a healing effect because of the therapeutic impact they can have on a human — the results of which she has personally seen many times.  

The horse's ability to heal and restore, she added, will help veterans overcome some of their lasting fears because they are able to ride and form a connection with such a big and powerful animal.

“It's the most peaceful but fearful thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Evans said of riding a horse and why she knows from personal experience how it can help one overcome fear.  

Along with the healing effect of a horse, Evans also sees the horse community as a positive environment for veterans that are struggling. The culture within the horse community is patriotic, she said, and while a lot of times veterans feel under appreciated when they return home, Evans has never seen that as a problem in the horse rider’s world. She hopes by introducing as many fellow veterans as she can into that world, they will soon feel as appreciated as she does.  

Evan’s long term goal is to segue Warrior Within, and its concept of connecting horses with veterans, into a nonprofit organization.