Child advocate, horse rescue ranch partner to promote healing

As a survivor of child sexual abuse, Nicole Cermak of Murrysville found herself making an instant connection with Sunday, a 15-year-old mare she fed and worked with as a volunteer at the Pleasant Valley Rescue Ranch.

Sunday was about to be sold to a slaughterhouse in the spring of 2017 before Pleasant Valley owner Rachelle Rizzo and a group of donors came up with the money to purchase her and bring her to the rescue ranch in Murrysville. Sunday is also a survivor of abuse, wearing a large scar on the left side of her neck.

“We have an adopt-a-horse program, and Nicole adopted Sunday,” Rizzo said. “When she’d come to the ranch to volunteer, we started talking about what she does.”

Cermak worked for six years as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate, working with and helping children who have undergone trauma.

“I’ve seen children who are neglected and abused, children who are supposed to be getting therapy and aren’t,” Cermak said. “To me, meeting those needs is how this started.”

Partnering with the rescue ranch, Cermak and Rizzo formed Hope Remanes, an outreach group operating under Westmoreland City nonprofit Rooted Outreach, whose mission is to raise awareness about human trafficking, sexual assault, abuse and homelessness. Clients visit the ranch and have a similar experience to Cermak’s, caring for and being in the presence of a gentle, pastoral animal.

“I’ve always loved horses,” Cermak said. “PVRR gave me an opportunity to feed them and care for them, and I thought it would be a great resource for other people to help heal.”

The ranch’s two smallest residents, miniature paints named Hannah and Sven, have accompanied Cermak to outside events after some training.

“We have to make sure they can be safe around everyone,” Cermak said. “So we’ve had children come to the ranch and be noisy, we walk the horses past people, and we get them used to working around distractions.”

On Oct. 1, a small crew was doing some minor construction work at the ranch, and none of the horses seemed to bat an eye over it as they slowly grazed their way across a sloping field.

Cermak also has been part of a program introducing the horses to people who’ve run afoul of the law.

“We talk about the horses’ stories because they’re all rescues. We show them basic horse handling and how to lead a horse, not aggressively but in the correct way,” she said. “They care for them. They groom them.”

Cermak stressed that she’s not a therapist, and the sessions are not therapy in the medical sense.

“But because it’s a sanctuary for horses, it can be a sanctuary for people as well,” she said. “Nature and people connect, and it promotes healing. We want to offer the horses as a beginning to that healing process.”

For details, visit HopeRemanes.org.