From Hopeless to Healing to Healer

Two years ago, veteran Adam Halloran was spiraling toward self-destruction. Horses saved his life.

- LAUREN FELDMAN

Standing in line at the grocery store one day, Army veteran Adam Halloran was so filled with futile rage that he bit down on his lip hard enough to draw blood. Transitioning back to civilian life was difficult, and Halloran often found that everyday situations filled him with adrenaline and anger.

“I didn’t like how a customer was speaking to the cashier,” he explains. “But you can’t just fight someone in the grocery line. I swore an oath to protect people, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I was just angry, all the time. And I found poor ways to cope.”

That was years ago. These days, the man who once relentlessly pursued risky and harmful situations now enjoys healthier pastimes: gardening, playing with his cat, doing pottery with his niece, and spending time at the barn.

“It’s all thanks to horses,” he says. “They saved my life.”

By 2019, Halloran had spent a decade on the path to self-destruction. After an honorable discharge from the Army, a prescription for painkillers spiraled into substance abuse fueled in part by unlucky genetics, but also the invisible scars of military service.

Paranoia, depression, PTSD, and self-medication led him to places he “wouldn’t wish on anybody.” It was a dark chapter of self-isolation, delusions, addiction, and time on the street. “I went from one battleground to another,” he says.