Peter Wylde at the 2013 Winter Equestrian Festival aboard Lipton L’Othian. Photo By: Carrie Wirth/Phelps Media Group.
Wellington, FL – September 4, 2013 – There are more than 28 million children of alcoholics living among us, but there is only one organization that brings smiles to their faces weekly by joining them with horses and mentors: Horses Healing Hearts (HHH). The inspirational national non-profit organization is proud to announce that Olympic Gold Medalist Peter Wylde has joined Horses Healing Hearts as their first Show Jumping Ambassador.
The first of its kind, HHH was founded in September 2009 by Liz Olszewski of Wellington, FL, and helps ease the pain of kids growing up in a home with substance abuse. Horse Healing Hearts provides these children with the opportunity to help heal emotionally by working with horses while having fun and learning positive life-coping skills, responsibility and confidence. Using equine experiential learning, HHH is the only program in the nation that works with the specific demographic of children of alcoholics and addicts. These gentle giants help them understand life, themselves and how to cope with their parents’ addiction to substance abuse.
“Horses can have a very transformative effect, particularly on children,” Wylde explained. “Horses Healing Hearts is an organization that helps children of families dealing with substance abuse issues to change their lives through riding and horsemanship. I am honored to be chosen as an Ambassador and I’m excited to be part of the amazing work they do with these children and families.”
Wylde first made his national mark in the equestrian world when he was 17 years old. He rode to the United States’ highest junior honor when he captured the Rolex-Maclay National Equitation Championship at the National Horse Show in Madison Square Garden. His nationally acclaimed win was only the beginning to a long list of accolades ahead.
Since then, he has won some of the most prestigious titles in the world of show jumping including the President’s Cup at the Washington International Horse Show, the $100,000 Rolex/USET Show Jumping Championship at the Bayer/USET Festival of Champions, the $50,000 FedEx Gold Coast Grand Prix, and a Grand Prix at the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian.
During the 1990s he was chosen to represent the United States in World Cup competition and at the Pan American Games, where he won both team and individual silver medals in 1999. That year he was named the United States Olympic Committee’s Male Equestrian of the Year.
In 2002, Wylde and Fein Cera represented the United States at the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain, where they won the individual bronze medal and Fein Cera earned the coveted “Best Horse” honor. In 2004 the pair was again chosen to represent the United States at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, where they won the team gold.
Wylde is the Head Clinician and Vice President of the United States Hunter Jumper Association’s Emerging Athletes Program, which seeks to identify and cultivate equestrian talent and reward horsemanship skills to aspiring young professionals.
Together with his partner Eduard Mullenders, Wylde runs Mullenders & Wylde Horses LLC, a Millbrook, New York-based training operation for top level horses and riders with a concentration on providing the highest level of care and training for the horse.
“HHH could not be more proud to have a leader in the industry like Mr. Wylde on board. With his history of already giving back to youth, his involvement seemed like a natural fit. We’re looking forward to a long and fruitful partnership helping these kids understand they are a product of their decisions and actions, not of their circumstances,” commented Liz Olszewski, Founder of Horses Healing Hearts.
Horses Healing Hearts is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to bettering the lives of children of alcoholics and substance abuse through equine experiential learning. To learn more about Horses Healing Hearts or how you can help with donations of money or time, go to http://www.HHHUSA.org or e-mail Liz Olszewski at liz@hhhusa.org or call (561) 713-6133.
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