Wellness Ranch Therapy Harnesses Horses to Confront Suicide, Mental Health Stigma in Rancho Cucamonga

At Wellness Ranch Equine Assisted Therapy, a horse may help a teenager find her voice, a couple recognize distance in their marriage or a client understand the boundaries she has struggled to set.

The Rancho Cucamonga nonprofit now serves about 50 clients each week. More than 100 others are waiting for care. The list grew largely through word of mouth, reflecting what its founders call an urgent need for accessible mental health services across the Inland Empire.

For founders Angelica and Sal Manzo, that mission is personal. Wellness Ranch grew from Angelica Manzo’s experience with postpartum depression and suicidal thoughts after the birth of their twin boys, as well as the cultural stigma she encountered when she sought help.

Her story carries particular resonance as Hispanic Heritage Month overlaps with September’s Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Hispanic and Latino adults were 28% less likely than U.S. adults overall to receive mental health treatment in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“What postpartum looked like for me was functioning with a smile and doing my daily tasks, but with a heavy, heavy depression,” said Manzo, the ranch’s executive director and lead therapist.

At the time, she supervised mental health clinicians at Rialto Unified School District and trained employees in suicide prevention. Her professional experience did not make her own symptoms easier to understand.

“How can I have these suicidal thoughts?” she remembered asking herself.

When Manzo spoke to relatives about her depression, she received a response that would later shape the ranch’s outreach: “Mexicans don’t have depression.” Her family was supportive, she said, but they did not understand why she could not simply push through it. Initially, neither did she.

Therapy and medication helped her recover. A psychologist compared medication to physical therapy, helping Manzo reconsider a treatment she had viewed as taboo.

During the COVID-19 shutdown, Manzo questioned a demanding career that left little time with her sons. She wanted to continue therapy while reconnecting with the horses she knew growing up in Norco.

Her husband, Sal Manzo, a firefighter and now Wellness Ranch’s equine specialist, encouraged her to pursue equine-assisted therapy certification in Lubbock, Texas.

His work in the fire service had also exposed him to the mental health struggles confronting first responders. Together, the couple wanted to build a program serving children, families, veterans and emergency personnel, with suicide prevention at the center of its mission.

“We wanted to do something different,” Sal Manzo said, “and really specifically emphasize suicide prevention.”

During one certification exercise, Angelica Manzo said the horses helped her see how insecurity and jealousy were affecting her marriage. That realization changed the couple’s relationship and convinced them the approach could help others.

“I became a believer,” she said. “I was sold at that moment.”

The experience inspired the Manzos to found Wellness Ranch in 2022. It became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit the following year and began operating from their backyard with two horses, two goats, two pigs and several chickens.

The ranch developed a full caseload and waiting list within about 18 months. Then, the couple said, a zoning change forced them to remove the horses in 2025.

They paused animal-assisted services, continued seeing clients in a rented office and searched for a new home. Crosslight Ministries offered space at 9720 Wilson Ave. after its pastor said the church had prayed for a community use that would preserve Rancho Cucamonga’s equestrian character.

Donors transformed rocks and rubble into a working ranch in nine months. The Home Depot Foundation supported fencing and an arena, while others provided roofing metal, saddles and labor. More than 300 people attended its June grand opening.

Its clients include children, adults, couples, first responders and veterans. Sessions are ground-based, without riding.

“Equine-assisted therapy is mental health therapy in an outdoor ranch setting, incorporating horses,” Angelica Manzo said.

The approach is experiential. In one exercise, clients use body language to direct a horse. If their posture and intent do not communicate confidence, the animal may ignore them.

Sal Manzo said the animals can serve as a bridge, helping clients begin conversations that might feel more difficult in a traditional therapy office.

In another session described by the Manzos, a horse slowly backed toward a client who believed she had strong boundaries. The encounter helped the client recognize that she was surrendering her space instead of asserting herself.

Children intimidated by horses may begin with a chicken, goat or pig. Each session includes a mental health provider and an equine specialist responsible for safety.

One young client arrived at the ranch hiding her face, avoiding eye contact and refusing to speak, Angelica Manzo said. After months of therapy, she was leading and exercising a horse, participating in the ranch’s cowgirl camp, making friends and entering high school with greater independence.

Stories like hers sustain the Manzos, but growth has created another challenge. Angelica Manzo and four interns carry active caseloads, while funding limits additional hiring. One full-time therapist could reduce the waiting list by half, she estimated.

“We have the space to host multiple sessions at the same time,” Sal Manzo said. “Now it’s a matter of hiring more people. There’s a need.”

Angelica Manzo rejected the idea that a long waiting list represents success. It represents people still waiting for support.

“A waiting list sounds great, but no, it’s not,” she said.

Individual 50-minute sessions cost $250, and the organization works with several insurance providers, Angelica Manzo said. Visits are available by appointment to protect clients’ safety and confidentiality.

For the Manzos, each person who reaches the ranch represents another opportunity for healing.

“One more life can change,” Angelica Manzo said.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for free, confidential support.