Episode 247: Cheryl Erpelding from Bethany’s Gait Ranch

by Brian Lenzkes, MD | Apr 23, 2025 | Podcast | 0 comments

View Episode 247: Cheryl Erpelding from Bethany’s Gait Ranch on YouTube
View Episode 247: Cheryl Erpelding from Bethany’s Gait Ranch on Rumble
Listen to Episode 247: Cheryl Erpelding from Bethany’s Gait Ranch on iTunes
Listen to Episode 247: Cheryl Erpelding from Bethany’s Gait Ranch on Spotify
Learn how to support the Life’s Best Medicine Podcast on Patreon

Cheryl Erpelding is the Horsemanship Director at Bethany’s Gait Ranch—a non profit ranch that pairs rescue horses with active duty, veterans, first responders, and their families to help both heal and grow.

Cheryl has years of experience in horsemanship, riding, training, teaching, and showing. Before leaving California in 2023, she was a wrangler and volunteer at the Saddles in Service non-profit that helped veterans, first responders, and others with PTSD. She helped them learn how to work with horses and taught them how to ride. She continues to work with military/first responders at Bethany’s Gait in the same fashion.

In this episode, host Dr. Brian Lenzkes and Cheryl talk about…

(00:00) Intro
(04:43) What Bethany’s Gait Ranch is and how Cheryl got involved with them
(05:44) Why being and working with horses can help veterans struggling with PTSD
(12:34) How horses are able to sense humans’ emotional states
(14:16) Success stories of veterans who have improved their PTSD and quality of life at Bethany’s Gait
(17:32) Some interesting facts about horses that non-horse-people probably don’t know
(21:14) Family events and activities at Bethany’s Gait Ranch
(22:06) Fundraiser events coming up at Bethany’s Gait
(24:26) How veterans can get in touch with Bethany’s Gait
(25:57) Other services and resources offered by Bethany’s Gait
(27:13) Outro