RIVER FALLS – There’s a saying that dogs are man’s best friend, and while that may be true for some, horses can also be a girl’s best friend. Just ask River Falls High School Class of 2024 graduate Claire John.

According to Claire’s mother, Brooke John, Claire always loved animals from a very young age.

“She would pretend she was animals and loved the show Doc McStuffins and My Little Pony at age 3,” Brooke said. “Any chance for a pony ride at a fair or a carnival, she was asking for a ride.”

Claire had a little dog named Tinkerbell growing up that she would dress up, put jewelry on and drive around in a shopping cart in the yard. Brooke said Tinkerbell was a good sport to Claire’s shenanigans, but unfortunately, they didn’t have any other animals.

Then in sixth grade, Claire’s friend asked her if she wanted to ride horses at her aunt’s house and a love affair with horses was born.

Claire said as she grew up, she struggled with severe depression and anxiety. She didn’t know what to do. Her parents didn’t know what to do. Nothing worked. In an interview in April at Lost Creek Ranch near Beldenville, Claire talked about that time.

“I was regularly on the brink of ending my life,” she said. “I had recently stopped riding at another barn because it wasn’t working out. We had done everything. I was in a six-week intensive program after school until 9 p.m. every day. It’s not like we weren’t trying.”

Somehow they found Lost Creek Ranch in Beldenville and toured the facilities in May or June about six years ago. She knew immediately she had found someplace special. The surroundings and horses soothed her soul. She started taking riding lessons once a week and soon spent every possible waking moment at the ranch.

“I would say the barn has been a big part in me still being alive,” she reflected.

Brooke said Claire’s relationship with horses has helped her mental health in many ways, especially as she and her husband struggled to help her.

“The horses helped to calm her on her most anxious days, helped her to be heard when she couldn’t express her emotions to us, and to feel needed and wanted by another creature,” Brooke said.

Her unspoken bond with the horses at Lost Creek essentially saved her.

“Although my parents would tell me and talk to me about all these things, having a nonverbal creature to be able to fill those needs nonverbally was what I needed most, that a human could not provide for me,” Claire said.

Claire counts Ruth Harper and Lynette Weldon from Lost Creek Ranch as her most trusted mentors. They have helped her to understand herself and how she works with the horse. They have helped her problem solve both external and internal challenges Claire has had when training and competing, including how her movements and emotions directly impact the horses.

While Claire doesn’t own her own horse, she leases one at Lost Creek Ranch. She also rides the horses there when they need exercise.

“I help many of the school horses for training and caring for them,” Claire said. “When the vet or farrier comes, if I don’t have school, I will be out at LCR to help hold horses, gather them from the pasture and keep them calm when they are getting work done.”

Brooke said Claire finds horses easier to connect with than people. She feels heard and understood by the horse.

“Because Claire is a young woman of few words, she can communicate with the horse without using her words, but through touch and the horse can understand her, where the people in her world can be left a little confused, including her mom and dad,” Brooke said. “Horses are also very calming to Claire, as animals have always been.”

Along with caring for horses at LCR, Claire has participated in many Western and English dressage competitions, starting at the introductory level and moving up to training (first and second level). She has been a member of the Western Wisconsin Dressage Association, Wesstern Dressage Association of Wisconsin, US Dressage Federation, and FFA. She has competed with all these organizations, including Western Dressage World, FFA Horse Evaluation at the state level and she intends to compete in the Online International Western Dressage World.

On two separate occasions, Brooke has approached two athletic directors at River Falls School District to see if Claire could letter in equine sports, along with other students who compete. She referred both directors to the US Equestrian website and attached information to the email, outlining requirements from the organization and requirements for the school (which Brooke said is simply recognizing the organization). She was disappointed by their response.

“The response was a flat, ‘No, we will not be considering this at this time.’ The second response was, ‘we would need to develop a team to see if the school had a need, then look at possible funding, etc.’”

Brooke said.

She wrote back explaining the option wouldn’t cost the district a dime, that no coaches would need to be hired, but was told no again.

The Journal reached out to the district for clarification but did not hear back before press time. If a response is received, this article will be updated.

Even though she didn’t get to letter in her chosen sport, Claire has many wonderful memories of her time spent with horses. Though hard to narrow it down to a favorite memory, Claire spoke of working with a horse named Bella.

“Bella can be anxious at times and I was trying to work on contact, which is different than how Bella was initially trained during walking,” Claire explained. “It took a long time to get Bella and me to relax hands and bit and for Bella to recognize the change. Once she got it, it was such an amazing feeling!”

Claire will attend UW-River Falls this fall with plans to major in biochemistry. She would like to try out for the UWRF Horse Team and continue training at Lost Creek Ranch. Someday, she may even open her own horse training facility.