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ecause mainstream America has been separated for so long from Native Peoples, and because our public school systems have fallen short in educating us on our American and American Indian history, there’s a general lack of understanding about the pressures faced by American Indians today.

Currently, on many reservations Native youth are faced with the difficult expectations of elders and loved ones to accept the insurmountable hardships of a lifetime spent on-reservation for the sake of preserving what remains of  tribal culture and heritage.  Because mid 20^th century U.S. governmental policies were made to escape the treaties of the past, rather than honor them, Native Peoples have faced mandates meant to literally starve them off their lands, and assimilate them into mainstream society.

Because of the resulting discouragements of reservation life, and because of gang violence and other issues related to never-ending poverty, the suicide rate among teens and young adults living on-reservation has surged well beyond the national average.  Some tribal communities are reporting suicide rates as high as one in six. 

One in six.

No matter what your personal convictions are on the issues of honor, war, and the need for assimilating all of us into one American culture, we surely can agree that Native teenagers are too young to destroy with a hopelessness that we have the power to relieve.

Economic opportunity is of course the first line of defense, but what about in the meantime?

In comes Learning Horse.  Learning Horse is a new, equine-based outreach program for Native youth at risk, including those at risk for suicide.  The program

offers tremendous healing power to Native kids through emotional connection with the living beings of horses, and then helps these kids translate that in terms of human relationships.  You can learn more about the program at LearningHorse.com.

3 Sun will donate $1 out of every $16 membership to Learning Horse, with a goal of raising $1M for Learning Horse expansion throughout the U.S..