THE calming power of horses is being used to bring peace and new hope to former servicemen’s lives.

Charity Salute is teaming up with Barden Lane Stables in Burnley to help armed forces veterans cope with their rehabilitation after the traumas of spending time in the world’s war zones.

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The good cause, which is based in the Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth Building on Yorkshire Street, was started by two former soldiers, who admit many ex-service personnel leave the forces ‘unaware of the basic life skills they will require to cope in a busy society’.

Many find themselves sleeping rough and falling into crime and addiction and the charity has a programme of re-education, basic life skills and giving them a safe place to live back on ‘Civvy Street’.

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One of the first people to benefit is Kirk Mount, who was injured in Iraq while serving with 40 Regiment was was forced to leave the unit three years ago.

The father-of-two, of Burnley Road, Hapton, had a spinal operation last July and was left wheelchair bound with no feeling in his legs.

He said: “It got me out and about and gave me confidence not just with the horses but to do other things as well.

“I had left the forces three years ago but I had the operation last July and the past six months has been really hard, but Daniel and Salute gave me something to look forward to.”

Daniel McDevitt, who served for 12 years in the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment in Bosnia and was in Northern Ireland at the time of the Omagh bomb, set up the scheme.

His father Frank McDevitt, who hailed from the Padiham Road area of Burnley, was awarded an MBE in 2006 for his military service and tireless charity work and now Daniel is following suit.

Daniel, who owns Barden Lane Stables, said: “We have a total military background and we have seen conflicts all over the world – Borneo, Cyprus and the Falklands.

“We did some trial sessions with Kirk and he found it highly beneficial.

“We had him on the horses and on a quad and we put some of the pictures on Facebook.

“Now he’s been offered a job by Robert Field, a farmer who was left paralysed when he was crushed by a bale of hay and had to have a specially-adapted tractor.

“Kirk will be doing agricultural work on tractors, diggers and lorries that are all adapted.

“He is reapplying to do his Heavy Goods Vehicle licence and that was all from him doing some horsemanship.

“It’s turned his life around.”

Daniel Hutchinson, the charity’s chairman and founder, said: “We offer professional counselling but some of the guys have problems bonding and trust issues.

“With the horses they build up their confidence.”

A lot of the veterans have dogs and it works along those lines.

“It’s been used in America and Canada for some times and horse therapy isn’t a new concept but it is new in this country.”