Nongae Johnson, co-founder of the HERD Foundation, is surrounded by some of the horses used for equine-assisted healing at her ranch in Delray Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Nongae Johnson of Hypoluxo Island has taken a love of horses to a place where few have before. She uses them in recuperative healing while working with veterans, at-risk juveniles, people battling drug addiction, and others.
Johnson, 56, and co-founder Rhonda Fritzshall started the nonprofit HERD Foundation — for Horses Energy Reflection Direction — in 2018 as a follow-up to Fritzshall’s work in equine-assisted healing on Johnson’s suburban Delray Beach farm.
“The more we worked together, the more we realized we could develop a program that helps certain populations,” Johnson said. “Right now, we’re working with veterans groups and the Legal Aid Society. They bring out groups such as disabled adults who have aged out of the foster system, as well as kids who have difficulty getting adopted.
“It’s all kind of heartbreaking.”
Six horses are used in the program, four full-sized and two miniature. Sessions begin with observing how horses work in a herd and communicate, followed by interaction between the visitors and the horses.
Much of the work takes place inside a large, covered area at the center of the 8-acre property.
“We start talking about the language horses use,” Johnson said. “It’s a lot like our language, but they use body language rather than speech. Pressure and release is how they talk to each other.”
Horses tend to create and respect boundaries. They “move their feet around — they figure out where they fit in the hierarchy very fast.”
The horses have taught Johnson and her visitors “the importance of being in that herd, in that family, and more and more as we move forward and the program expands, the more we see how important that herd system is and how much we can learn from the horses to use in our relationships.”
One of the newest initiatives involves parents and couples seeking to strengthen their own relationships.
Some veterans have worked since day one in a 90-minute program on Fridays to establish relationships with the horses.
“You can just see their relationships growing,” Johnson said. “We have one veteran in particular who would come every session and cry and be isolated, and now you never see her not smiling.”
Another program, sponsored by GL Homes, brought out youngsters who had aged out of the foster care program and, in some cases, had disabilities.
“It was such a surprise. I mean, they made us laugh and cry,” Johnson said
She said one doctor working with the veterans saw improvements in them because of the HERD program and decided to visit the horses.
“We were showing him how to have a conversation with the horse, pressure and release, and Miss America came over and put her head over the stall and he jumped. He said, ‘I don’t know what I was expecting,’ so you have to be careful of what you ask for.”
Johnson and her husband, Michael Caruso, who works at the Delray Shooting Center, have four grown children. When she is not at the farm she enjoys “dinner with friends and a cocktail.”
The HERD program is funded by grants, private donors and fundraising and, like most nonprofits, has struggled in that regard during the pandemic.
For more information call 561-665-0083 or email info@herdfoundation.com.
— Brian Biggane
Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: We moved around a lot. We lived in Florida, Albuquerque and New York. My dad had a difficult time making his mind up what he wanted. I spent my sophomore year at Twin Lakes High School in West Palm Beach, but then we moved back to New York and I graduated from Flushing High School. I always made friends, but once I moved it was always more difficult. I became more guarded as far as making close friends.
After that I went to horsemanship school in West Virginia and the school went bankrupt in the first few months. From there I went into the workforce. But I left there with a horse, and that changed everything for me. When they closed down, people were scrambling on what to do with their horses; a girl asked an instructor if somebody would take her horse and I took it. I had to put it to sleep eventually with a leg injury, but then went to school to learn how to manage a horse facility.
Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I’ve driven carriages in Manhattan, hot-walked thoroughbreds, tended bar and waited on tables, and of course mucked horse stalls. I’m most proud of forming our not-for-profit with Rhonda. I wanted to grow the horse farm business to cover more of what horses have to offer.
It’s not just riding, it’s something deeper. And this part of the work is more fulfilling. Where we are has been around for 31 years. It was originally Johnson’s Folly but that was more about jumping and riding. I didn’t want to confuse that with what we’re doing so we started Tara Farms. I started working with drug rehab centers and went from there.
Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Keep moving forward, don’t get stagnant. Don’t overthink things. It’s a cliche but it’s true for me: Follow your dream.
Q: How did you choose to make your home on Hypoluxo Island?
A: My husband, Michael, and I rode our motorcycles up and down A1A for five or six years until we found our home. We were that annoying couple disturbing the peace. My husband has a fishing boat, and that’s what he loves. Before that I never left here and work for 20 years. I sold horses to buy a motorcycle, and ultimately sold the motorcycle to buy more horses.
Q: What is your favorite part about living on Hypoluxo?
A: We love our neighbors and the water. The view is serene and peaceful. The horse farm is both, but when we lived there I would never leave work. I loved being close to the horses, but it became too much. We originally bought the house for the weekends, but it became too much work to go back and forth. While we were at the farm, somebody knocked on the door late at night and that was it. We needed to live elsewhere.
Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I’m actually planning to read Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift because I want to learn about the Houyhnhnms. It’s a land where the horses talk and rule the Yahoos, who are like humans but not intelligent.
Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: I enjoy listening to classics such as Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Dinah Washington. I also enjoy Rob Thomas.
Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: My father was my mentor, but his good friend Earl Hawkins would take me to Jamaica Bay and Brooklyn for horseback riding lessons, and that would take me to where I am today. The horses are my mentors now. They teach me patience, not to be judgmental, not to take things personally. Most of all, they teach good boundaries.
Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie who would play you?
A: Halle Barry and Lesley-Ann Brandt from Lucifer. I’ve been told I look like both of them. I used to have my hair in a pixie, which Halle Barry has had also.
Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: My husband keeps me laughing. That’s the glue in our marriage, that we’re always laughing, sometimes at each other’s expense. I wake up laughing.
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