Mustang Medicine is an initiative created by The Clapham Foundation - a 501(c)3 charity - that inspires people to pursue and reach their highest potential. By combining the science of Positive Psychology, Evidence-Based Horsemanship and ancient Greek Philosophy, our program delivers workshops wherein individuals experience practical application of their divine strengths and divine deficiencies to develop core character excellences (virtue).
Our unique approach utilizes findings of equine neuroscience that mustangs experience primary emotions of fear, safety, trust and love in manners similar to that of humans. Our methods provide insight into personal character excellences (virtues) that empower us to successfully overcome difficult circumstances that occur in our lives.
We refer to individuals in our program as scholars because everyone attends the program on scholarship and expresses a desire to study character excellence and become a Person of Character Excellence (Virtue).
When mustangs are gathered in from the wild and adopted by our facility, they begin the process of learning to trust and overcome fear to become safe, confident and excellent in their new partnership with humans. Certified mustang facilitators guide and gentle the mustangs through the initial training program to prepare the mustangs to safely work with the scholars.
During our workshops, scholars work with semi-wild mustangs and facilitators to think through the pressures of the mustang’s challenging circumstances. By doing so, scholars discover their own character strengths & deficiencies and teach themselves principles to address adversity and develop the confidence to defeat fear, create internal safety, trust themselves and find gratitude in growth through hardship. Our workshops foster awareness and teach scholars how to think - not what to think. As a result, our scholars discover that all the answers they need to successfully address and overcome life’s challenges reside within themselves.
Character excellence comprises the heart of the Mustang Medicine program, and helping people build virtuous lives represents its ultimate aim. Virtue is a way of being that promotes magnificence: the ability to own our strengths without arrogance and the ability to own our deficiencies without shame. We believe the most effective way to influence society is to influence individuals because like-minded individuals freely coalesce to build and fortify communities. To that end, we begin with the individual to create symbiotic societies forged from a foundation of virtue.
Board of Directors
Our Team
Dr. David Hill
Dr. David Hill is a Founder of doTerra Essential Oils, a multi-billion dollar company with a community of over 4.5 million wellness advocates. Dr. Hill brings a wealth of business acumen, social network expertise and a robust network of influential people and organizations in Utah.
Clay Olsen
Clay Olsen is a founder of Fight the New Drug, Joinfortify.com. Clay has been working for ten years to present scientifically backed research regarding the dangers of pornography. Clay has built a community of over 1,000,000 followers on its social media accounts. Clay created Fortify, an app that assists those seeking to recover from pornography addiction. To date, Fortify has over 90,000 users. He lends expertise to our social media and app initiatives.
Shelaine Maxfield
Shelaine Maxfield is a Founder of The Younique Foundation, a non-profit organization established to assist survivors of childhood sexual abuse find healing and hope. Shelaine travels the globe inspiring Younique Presenters and others to find their callings and to make a powerful difference in the world.