MEET Michelle Ruehl
Air Force Officer, Pilot, and teacher Captain Michelle Ruehl connects two of her passions in life: the military and horses.

What was your childhood experience with horses? Were you a horse-crazy kid? What about your parents – did they recognize this interest?
As a child, I knew I would grow up to do three things: ride horses, fly airplanes, and become President of the United States. At age ten, I met my first goal. As children, my mother and her sisters went away to a wilderness camp in northern Michigan for years. When I was old enough to attend, I begged my mother to send me as well. On the brochure, I saw you could pick between different activities like archery, swimming, or horsemanship. I spent the summer of 1990 mucking stalls, and I loved it! I was about 4 ft. tall and couldn’t have weighed more than 80 pounds, but I never feared the horses. I felt at peace with the beasts that could crush me.

As I grew older, I took over the Camp Horsemanship Association riding program at Camp Cherith. I taught young girls how to ride western and bareback, how to groom, and how to set up overnight trail rides. By the time I was seventeen, I left home from the first day after high school let out until the day before we began again in the fall. My parents were sad that I chose to leave for months at a time, but they never told me “No.” The last year that I worked at the camp, we brought troubled inner-city girls up to the ranch to do a pseudo therapy program with them. We had no trained EAP instructors or anything, but we used a grass roots approach to building a program connecting girls with horses. It was the first time I witnessed the healing power of human-animal relationships. I watched as tough gangsters put down their knives and picked up a comb, or set down their marijuana to fill water troughs. I knew I would eventually find a way to revisit this concept later in life.

How did you choose to join the military? Did you have to give up riding?
I used to sit on my grandfather’s knee and look at airplane books. He flew B-24’s in WWII and always encouraged me to dream big. He told me girls could fly airplanes if they wanted to, and I believed him. I entered the United States Air Force Academy in the summer of 1999. While a cadet, we were very busy, and I did not have much time to ride. I dabbled a bit with the equestrian team, but I had to focus on my grades and sports (rugby) to earn a grade point average high enough for a coveted pilot slot. Near my senior year, however, I found time to drive 40 minutes outside of town to Pikes Peak Therapeutic Riding Center. I volunteered to be a side walker for a class of five mentally handicapped children who were doing hippotherapy. Again, I was astounded by the relationships formed between children and horses. Unfortunately, one sweet girl had witnessed her parents’ death in a car accident. Due to the trauma, she was mute. We spent months coaxing her to speak. She seemed to understand that if she asked her horse to “walk,” he would respond, but she lacked the courage to do so. After several months, we had a breakthrough. She whispered softly to her horse, “walk” and the horse stepped forward. I could not hide my tears. Her desire to ride overpowered her pain, and she learned to speak again.

How do you connect horses with the military now?
I graduated the academy in 2003 and spent several years with my nose in the books for pilot training. Once I earned my wings, I flew the C-130 Hercules. I moved five times, and longed for a chance to help or be involved with equine therapy again. I couldn’t find time to go to a ranch, but I did start an online Master’s program in psychology. I figured if I couldn’t put on my boots and ride, I could at least study things like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In 2008, I finally had the opportunity to go back to the Air Force Academy as a teacher. As soon as I got my orders to return to Colorado Springs, I called PPTRC and asked if I could volunteer again. I was excited to find out they had a new program called, “Wounded Warriors,” where they used the horses to help soldiers returning from combat zones with PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

What do you do with the soldiers and horses now?
Currently, there is an Army unit called, The Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson, Colorado. Some of these solders opt to work with PPTRC. They come out to the ranch and spend an hour and a half with the horses. They groom, tack, and ride a specific horse each week. I am on the road a lot for the military, but when I am home, I volunteer as much as possible with the program.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years I plan to be working on a Ph.D. in psychology, specializing in equine therapy and still flying airplanes. The Air Force Academy is looking into starting their own hippotherapy program. I won’t be able to stay that long (we change assignments every couple of years), but I hope to stay in touch with the program and contribute in any way that I can. I could come teach some classes, give seminars, or better yet, branch out and set up a therapy program at the next Air Force base I move to.

How about ten?
In ten years, I plan to leave the military, start my own horse therapy center, and run for United States Senator. I know that sounds lofty, but I can’t seem to shake my childhood goals. If I could find a way to combine horses and flying, that would be even better. I envision creating an organization where I can fly patients in a medical airplane to my therapy center. We could sponsor families who do not have enough money to buy plane tickets, and we could reach out to patients with severe medical complications, who wouldn’t normally be able to fly. Once at my center, we could sponsor their food, accommodations, and therapy. In my spare time, I’d stay involved in local politics until the timing was right to step onto the bigger stage.

Do you have any advice for little girls who have their own dreams about horses?
I would say that you can never dream too big. People will tell you that you have lofty goals or that you need to have a back-up plan because you might never reach them. I would say that you should dream as big as your heart and mind can imagine. You can have a plan A, a plan B, and a plan Z. Anytime plan A doesn’t work, you can be ready to try the next one. If you are always ready and motivated, when opportunities arise, you will be the one person who can step in and make things happen. Also, I would say that having one dream doesn’t mean you can’t have another one that is completely opposite. In my case, I thought I would have to choose between the military and horses, but I actually found the perfect combination.