The Los Angeles-area fires dominated news headlines around the world from Jan. 7 to 31, 2025. The series of 14 fires — the largest of which were the Palisades and Eaton Fires — led to 200,000 evacuations, destroyed more than 18,000 homes and structures, and burned over 57,529 acres.

Long after the last fire was contained, the impact of the disaster is still felt across Los Angeles by those who lost their homes and are struggling to get back on their feet, and the thousands who evacuated suffering from PTSD.

Taking the Reins is a Los Angeles-based non-profit dedicated to helping girls from low-income and under-resourced communities have access to the healing benefit of horses, while also learning about wildlife, environmental science, and climate conservation. The organization has also felt the ripple effects of the disaster. 

“We have six girls in our program who lost their homes in the fires,” said Dr. Jane Haven, executive director of Taking the Reins. “Unfortunately, two of those were on our show team, and their families have now relocated out of the area. Another family lost their house in the Pacific Palisades and are now living in Thousand Oaks (37 miles away), and it's just too far for them to drive here.”

In addition, 11 students who attended Taking the Reins’ summer camp, which is also open to boys, had their homes or schools destroyed in the fires.

“That is a total of 17 kids that were directly affected by the fires, and everything else that happened afterwards,” said Dr. Haven.

While the Taking the Reins property was damaged by the 80 m.p.h. Santa Ana winds that fueled the blazes, fortunately it was not physically impacted by the fires themselves, although the program was temporarily shut down for repairs.

 

To help the students who were suffering from the long-term trauma effects after the fires, Dr. Haven and her staff encouraged them to reconnect with the horses.

“We conducted an exercise where we had the girls sit with their favorite horse and write a letter to them about what they had been through since they last saw them,” Dr. Haven explained. “We thought the kids would sit in their stalls for maybe 15 minutes while they wrote. We had two girls who sat there for almost two hours ... all of them cried as they told their horse what they'd been through.”

For some of the younger kids, the staff talked to them about how the horses had really missed them.

“The horses hadn’t been around the little children for a few months, and we explained to them that before they got on the horses and rode, they needed to be hugged, walked, groomed and bonded with,” Dr. Haven said. “We did a lot of healing with the horses — we had kids hugging them, grooming them, and then telling us they felt so much better and that they thought they were going to be OK. It was so sweet! We did a lot of that as we reentered into our regular program structure.”

Not only did Dr. Haven open her barn to help those impacted by the fires, she also opened her home. “I had a family from Altadena living with me who had lost their house in the Eaton Fire and were trying to get back on their feet and reestablish themselves,” she explained. Through that experience, she learned of the depth of what some of the Taking the Reins students were enduring. 

Due to the level of lead contamination in Altadena caused by the burning of older homes with lead-based paint, many people have chosen not to return to the neighborhood.

“I've driven through the area a handful of times with them and the loss of community is devastating. The post office where their mail was delivered has burned down, their doctors' offices are gone, their dentists' office is gone, every service you usually try to have close to your home is gone,” said Dr. Haven.

A pair of twins who lost their home, car, and their school in the fires told Dr. Haven that Taking the Reins was the only safe and consistent place they had in the aftermath.

“They were overwhelmed emotionally,” she said, explaining that she is determined to help any kid who wants to be there find a way to attend Taking the Reins programs.

In addition to the fires, 2025 has been a challenging year for numerous people in Los Angeles.

 

“The economy is really affecting many of our families. A lot of employment statuses have changed, especially those of people who worked in the TV and film industry, which is at a low point right now,” Dr. Haven explained.

Over 50% of the students at Taking the Reins are Hispanic, and political upheavals in Southern California have also severely impacted them.

Despite the adversities Angelenos have faced this past year, Dr. Haven is also celebrating the many success stories she has witnessed while at Taking the Reins.

“We had a student who lived in a one-room apartment with her mom when she first started riding here, and now she is going to law school and owns her own horse,” she said. “Other students have gone on to ride for their college’s equestrian team after having seen their first horse at Taking the Reins when they were in fifth grade. We have served over 6,000 girls, and we have a handful of alums now who are very actively involved in horses.”

Along with learning to ride and horsemanship, the students at Taking the Reins have several other valuable educational opportunities. The Seed-to-Skillet gardening program teaches them how to plant, nurture, harvest, and cook their own vegetables, while also providing information on nutrition and healthy eating. The Animal Husbandry program allows them to interact with and learn to care for sheep, rabbits, goats, chickens, ducks, horses, donkeys, ponies, dogs, and cats.

While the Learning Center offers core participants hands-on S.T.E.A.M.-based (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) classes and experiences, highlighting ecology and environmental conservation. 

“Our environmental science and climate program is a hands-on workshop where they learn about the water systems of Los Angeles, native plants, local wildlife habitats, etc.,” said Dr. Haven. Students also have the opportunity to take part in a nature trail ride, where they get off their horses to study plants along the route. 

More advanced skill-building initiatives include being on the junior board and learning nonprofit leadership strategies; a developmental workforce to apply as camp counselors; and assistance with college applications and scholarships.

 

“We have grown into a broad community servicing hundreds of kids a year. They often start at age eight or nine, and stay until they graduate high school,” Dr. Haven explained.

To learn more about organizations like Taking the Reins and the USEF Community Outreach Program, please visit usef.org/about-us/community-building/organizations-program.

To learn more about the L.A. fires, wildfire threats and equine welfare, please read our feature in the summer issue of the US Equestrian magazine.