S.O.U.L Harbour Ranch

What S.O.U.L Really Means

Back in the early 2010s, Jodie Diegel was already doing what she loved: helping others. As a registered nurse and self-described giver, she had started volunteering with her therapy dogs, golden retrievers named Buffett and Dudley. 

One day, she found out that people on the internet were using miniature horses wearing sneakers as therapy animals. Enamored by the cuteness of seeing these animals walking around a nursing home, inspiration struck her. She thought to herself, “I’ve got to do that.”

Diegal had already started doing dog therapy in 2010 with her golden retriever Buffet and in 2011 started doing the same with her dog Dudley. With her background in training her dogs as therapy animals, she felt drawn to do something more. 

“I’m a nurse and I’m a giver and I’m an animal lover,” Diegel said. “So what better way than to start a nonprofit with therapy animals?”

Diegal was a horse owner, and after finding out that people were using tiny horses as therapy animals, she began wondering how she could make her dream a reality while still working full-time. 

Starting the first non-profit in 2012 with three miniature horses and an MBA to guide her work through the business side of things, Diegal didn’t walk into this venture with any prior knowledge helpful for starting a non-profit. She was forced to conduct her own research and determine what it would take to get launched.

A Community of Animal Lovers

Diegal worked as the sole trainer for a year before bringing on volunteers. Training horses was both varied and similar in some ways to how dogs are trained. For example, she used different commands with the horses, such as “walk,” instead of “heal.” After another year, in 2013, she felt that it was time to bring on volunteers. On the first day, she expected maybe a few people to show up, max.

“We had 50 people that showed up for the first day and 50 people that showed up for the second day,” Diegel said. “People are excited to work with miniature horses, and I feel so blessed that I’m able to have these horses and then extend them to others.”

Then the media picked up on Diegel’s efforts, being featured on the Steve Harvey Show, The Associated Press, and more.

“So there was certainly the cute factor, the amazing factor and the healing factor that these animals had on everybody that would see them or read about them,” Diegel said regarding the newsworthy element of these stories. 

Conflicting Standards and a New SOUL-ful Venture

But as the organization grew, so did the differences in vision. Diegel, committed to professionalism and safety, insisted on affiliation with Pet Partners, a national leader in animal-assisted therapy that requires teams to pass rigorous tests. But over time, the board wanted to ease those standards.

To Diegal, this felt in conflict with her values of professionalism and safety, so she took the horses and her best handlers and started her second non-profit, Soul Harbor Ranch Animal Therapy Program.

“For me, as the owner of the animals and going out and visiting, ensuring the safety and the connection and the relationship of the people that were handling these animals, it was so important to me as the founder to continue that, to not let that go,” Diegal said.

In 2018, Diegel started her second nonprofit, the Soul Harbor Ranch Animal Therapy Program. The word “soul” was inspired by Diegel’s belief that animals were good for your soul.

“The word SOUL became our tagline because the acronym ‘Sharing Of Unconditional Love’ is all about SOUL, and it’s what our therapy animals do best,” Diegel said.

A Family of Volunteers and Therapy Animals

Soul Harbor Ranch grew from three all the way to now having 13 miniature horses, all of them registered as therapy animals through Pet Partners. On site, they have many animals, including dogs, cats, full-size horses, donkeys and pigs. Some are official therapy animals, others, such as Peaches and Pickles, two miniature pigs, are not registered. They still hint at their potential by poking a mini piano with their noses.

Diegel describes some challenges that come with running a nonprofit.

“They’re doing great things and giving their time, talent, their passion,” Diegel said. “So you can only do as much as your volunteers can give.”

But with these challenges also come great rewards.

“The flip side is the great joy that you get from working with such amazing people who are giving their time, talent, and their passion,” Diegel said. “And we’re all animal lovers, so it’s even better.

From Vision to Manifestation

When Diegal moved into the Soul Harbor Ranch property in 2016, she only had her intentions driving the potential future for her organization.

“When we started with three miniature horses, I did not envision a beautiful, incredible barn on the property, another 60 ft. by 120 ft. training center on our property, the ability to have 100 plus volunteers to impact the students and the many people we did,” Diegel said.

Some programs include SOUL Buddies, a mentorship program with high school students. SOUL to SOUL visits bring animals to memory care homes and pediatric hospitals. SOUL Veterans offers comfort to former service members and their families. Walk With Me encourages literacy and mobility through strolls with therapy animals. There’s even an anti-bullying initiative called Just Say WHOA (We Help One Another) to Bullying.

From online inspiration to a full ranch of therapy animals, Jodie Diegel has built a sanctuary where animals heal people and people heal the animals. The sharing of unconditional love is the medicine that connects them all.

To learn more, you can visit www.soulharbourranch.org.