It's called "hippo" therapy, "hippos" being the Greek word for horse, and its practitioners use it for everything from physical therapy to occupational therapy to speech therapy.

For U.S. military veteran Justin Schmidt, who completed two deployments in Afghanistan before developing a debilitating brain injury, the goal while sitting on a horse at J Bar J Ranch in the Animas Valley is more simple:

"Not falling off," he says.

Schmidt, 26, is on the rebound after brain surgery nearly a year ago temporarily left him unable to walk or talk. Part of his therapy is horseback riding. He's in a new national program for veterans called Horses for Heroes, sponsored by the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association.

"Horse riding is great, 'cause you've really gotta use all your muscles," says Justin's mother, Joley Schmidt, who watches on a recent Thursday as Justin rides the horse around the arena. He's accompanied by three volunteers with Cadence Therapeutic Riding, a nonprofit Durango group that offers horse therapy for people with physical and cognitive disabilities. The local veterans office contacted Cadence Therapeutic about enrolling Schmidt.

It's a significant day for Schmidt, as it marks the first time in his month of hippo therapy that he's guided the horse himself.

He keeps taking small steps forward, encouraging signs for a mother who's been concerned about her son for several years - first because he was in a foreign land, then because of the injury.

Schmidt graduated from Durango High School in 2000, and joined the Navy in 2003. He became part of VAQ-134, a tactical electronics warfare squadron. His first overseas deployment took him to Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan for six months in 2005-06.

He worked as an aviation electrician on an EA-6B Prowler, an aerial radar-jamming jet filled with electronic gizmos. Joley Schmidt says her son's senior officer told her how the powerful and high-decibel jet would rattle and shake on takeoffs.

Justin was sent to Afghanistan again in January 2007, and began to develop symptoms. He complained of being tired and having headaches. He came home in July 2007, then was about to return to Afghanistan in August when he had what appeared to be a stroke.

After ruling out a tumor, doctors determined Schmidt had a "cavernous malformation" in his brain. Joley Schmidt compares it to a mulberry that swelled and bled.

She thinks the jet noise played a role in her son's difficulties, giving him a concussion that grew worse.

"It's my opinion it rattled his brain. That's what caused that bleed," she says, but adds that there is no way to prove her theory.

Surgery in August to ease the swelling made him worse. After surgery he couldn't walk or talk, although he could understand what someone was saying. He was classified as comatose, Joley says.

After 10 months at the veterans hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., Schmidt returned home to Durango in mid-May. He's medically retired from the Navy and gets disability payments from Veterans Affairs.

"He's improved quite a bit," Joley Schmidt says. "Being home, it's real life. So it's more or less getting on with your real life."

Twice a week he comes to J Bar J.

With help, Justin Schmidt leaves his wheelchair, puts on a helmet and a cloth back brace and walks up a ramp. A volunteer handler leads the horse up to the ramp, and Schmidt steps over its back and onto the saddle. This too is a milestone - the first time that handlers haven't had to lift him onto the horse.

Physical therapist Jeannie Aisenbrey takes over. She has Schmidt work with his arms. She has him let go of the reins, or stand up, which stresses his core muscles.

"The horse's walk is real similar to the human walk - their stride length, their cadence," explains Aisenbrey, who has 11 years' experience with hippo therapy in New Mexico. "Somebody riding gets the same neurological input, so they're walking better after they get off the horse."

Aisenbrey has been in Durango for four years, during which time she's served on the board of Cadence Therapeutic Riding. "It's fun," she says. "It's not therapy for them."

Part of the healing therapy comes from having a group of people around you, helping to encourage and support. Volunteers are the lifeblood of Cadence Therapeutic. Board president and head instructor Ron Tyner volunteers many hours each week as well as running two businesses, but shrugs off the hardship of making that commitment. "We get a lot more out of it than we put in," he says.

In a month, Schmidt has already made huge strides, Tyner says. "It's absolutely amazing to me. The guy works hard, and the volunteers just love working with him. Every day he just makes some huge improvements."

Whether it's the horse, the activity or the camaraderie, Schmidt is obviously more animated after dismounting following his half-hour-plus ride.

He says he feels strong. And he hasn't fallen off yet.

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