In March 2025, Horse approached Pillars for Pilgrims to support him on his journey of recovery. When a decade of treatment failed, this journey changed everything.

About:

22 years served. Multiple deployments. East Timor. Afghanistan. Special Forces. Horse gave everything to his service. But when the uniform came off, the real battle began.

The Unravelling:

PTSD. Traumatic brain injury. Chronic pain that radiated through his entire body. Depression. Substance abuse—both legal and illegal. Parental alienation from his daughter in Sweden. By 2020, Horse had hit rock bottom.

Traditional medicine offered an SSRI. It masked the symptoms briefly. Then they came roaring back.

For years, Horse searched for answers—shadow work, microdosing psilocybin, ayahuasca. Each helped incrementally. But the weight remained.

The Turning Point

In July 2025, Horse travelled to Mexico for Ibogaine treatment—a powerful psychedelic therapy unavailable in Australia. Pillars for Pilgrims funded the journey, recognising what traditional systems refused to acknowledge: sometimes healing requires unconventional paths.

The treatment was intense. A flood dose lasting 18 hours. Deep autobiographical visions. Physical challenge. Spiritual reckoning. Followed by 5-MeO-DMT—10 minutes that felt like eternity. Crushing anxiety dissolved into darkness, then light, then a profound flushing of trauma.

The Transformation

Approaching two months post-treatment, Horse describes the change as nothing short of life-altering:

  • Mental clarity he hadn't experienced in decades

  • Emotional stability replacing constant volatility

  • Significantly reduced chronic pain after years of suffering

  • Zero cravings for substances, legal or illegal

  • Improved sleep and a positive disposition every morning

  • Newfound authenticity—the capacity to just be himself

"I haven't felt this good in 20 years. What Ibogaine achieved in a few days was vastly more than a decade of therapy. This saves lives."
—Andrew "Horse" Hudson

Why This Matters

Horse's story isn't an anomaly. It's a glimpse of what becomes possible when we stop forcing veterans into systems that weren't built for them—and start walking beside them toward real healing.

Pillars for Pilgrims exists to fund these journeys. To say yes when traditional channels say no. To stand beside Australia's veterans when they need it.