KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Dozens gathered in Kansas City’s Hale Arena to shine a spotlight on horsemanship as well as mental health in rural America.

Jeff Winton, the founder of Rural Minds, has spent a lifetime around horses. But moreover, he has spent a lifetime around heartache.

In 2012, Jeff’s 28-year-old nephew, Brooks, died of suicide in rural America.

“When that happened it became very apparent that no one wanted to talk about it because there’s an embarrassment factor,” Jeff said. “We even had the pastor tell us that some of the people in our small town of 500 farming people, that we should make up an excuse for his death – we should have said he died in a farming accident or something.”

Jeff said his mother courageously ignored the advice of those around her.

“My mother said, ‘Now this nonsense is going to stop with my family, we’ve been hiding this for too long, too many young people have been dying’,” Jeff continued.

According to research done by Rural Minds, those who live in rural areas have much higher rates of depression and suicide than those who live in urban areas, a nearly 68% difference, however, they are less likely to access mental healthcare. Meanwhile, farmers are twice as likely to die by suicide than those in any other occupation.

“Believe it or not, 65% of the counties in the United States that are rural, have no psychiatrists,” Jeff noted. “Sixty-five, that’s huge.”

With that in mind, Jeff set out to make a change for the 46 million of us living in America’s heartland. In 2021, he founded Rural Minds to help empower those who live in rural areas with information, resources and training.

However, the story is not one that is unique to mankind as mental illness stretches far and wide in the animal kingdom. A few years after Jeff joined Linden Hill Stables a trailer on the way to another competition contained Jeff’s horse Duke and Jim Modica’s poney Java Joe. While en route, the trailer became detached from the vehicle and slid on its side.

While Java Joe did not make it out of the crash alive, Jeff said Duke is the reason that five other equines were able to escape it. After first responders had arrived, they started to hear a great rumble from inside the trailer, within seconds, Duke emerged, bloody and victorious as he burst through the gate and righted the trailer.

Before the collision, Jeff said Duke had been a nationally renowned champion in Western-style shows. But ever since the crash, something has changed, Duke no longer wins many ribbons.

“You can see he’s got a white scar on his inner left front leg,” Jeff said. “The vet said they tried but it just never went away, but I’m glad he’s got it. It reminds me every day of how strong he is.”

Lisa Hillmer, owner, trainer and instructor at Linden Hill Stables, also chairs the KC Summer Kick-off Horse Show, one of the season’s first shows. Each year she said the event partners with a charity to foster community involvement. In 2024, the show deemed Rural Minds the beneficiary.

“My family started the organization in Nebraska before I decided to move it to Kansas City,” Hillmer said. “It’s something that’s important to me to keep it going.”

The show, which is free and began on Thursday, May 30, runs through the weekend. It is set to feature a full slate of classes for Saddlebreds, Morgans, Hackney Poneys, Road Horses and Equitation riders.

The event kicked off Western and English classes on Thursday. Linden Hill started strong with a third-place ribbon for Jeff and his horse Catherine in the English-style class. In this style, judges search for horses that look more pleasurable to ride. American saddlebred horses were originally bred for plantation riding which required much stamina and an even gate.

Modica, who also rides for Linden Hill, took home one of the team’s first blue ribbons with his Hackney Poney Annie. The pair showed in the speedster cart class in which judges look for both form and speed.

The DJ at the event also takes requests from riders. For $5 they can play a song of their choice while their class is shown, all of which goes back to Rural Minds.

Thursday’s events were drawn together with a dinner and silent auction to benefit the charity.

“It’s so important that families talk openly about depression because there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. But people in rural areas are taught to be very independent, to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, to get over it, because again, it’s not considered an illness. It’s gratifying work – it’s heartbreaking work.” Jeff concluded.

The following are some of the free programs and information provided by Rural Minds:

The horse show ran from Thursday, May 30, through Saturday, June 1, at Hale Arena, 1701 American Royal Ct., in Kansas City, Mo.

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