At Kentucky farm, thoroughbred horses give people in recovery a second chance at life

There are many expectations for Stable Recovery, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program based in Taylor Made Farm, the world’s largest seller of thoroughbred horses. Residents are up at 5 am, ready to work – and sober.

About 50 men recover from their outbuildings on the Kentucky farm, alongside 750 horsepower which give them a structure, help them to heal and keep them on the right track.

“Much of the dependence and recovery is to be honest with yourself,” said Christian Countzler, CEO and co-founder of the program. “It’s really easy to be honest with a horse.”

Countzler and Frank Taylor, whose family owns Taylor, are both restoring themselves. They say that this connection allows them to be seen in the program participants.

The program is also a practical challenge: a shortage of increasing labor in the horse industry. Stable recovery has been designed both as the development of labor and the recovery of drug addiction, forming people in significant careers built around the thoroughbred horse industry.

For Taylor, it was not easy to bring his brothers – who is a co -owner that Taylor did with him – to allow stable recovery on the farm. He persuaded them by pointing to a mission statement by Taylor Made: that the family would live his Christian values ​​while achieving a profit. They finally accepted a 90 -day trial.

“There was a risk list,” said Taylor. “What are customers going to think? And if a horse is injured? And if someone ODS? … But you could save someone’s life, and you could make a mother her son and you could give a child to her father.”

Stable recovery is a 12 -step program of one year where participants live, work and heal on the farm. Unlike most residential rehabilitation programs that can cost thousands of dollars, it is free for participants, entirely funded by donors and private subsidies. Residents do not pay space for the place and the pension until they are paid after finishing the initial phase of the program.

This first step is the School of output, a 90 -day training program in which participants learn the fundamental principles of horse care and agricultural operations. Graduates can start full -time and paid immediately after finishing it. The finish of the one year’s full program means that the participants “heritage graduates”.

“The goal of work, which the horse provides, was a manufacturer of difference for these people,” said Countzler. “With horses, it provides a goal and it is something that many people suffering from dependence are lacking. They have lost their goal. So, coming out on this farm and knowing that these horses are on the other side of the door awaiting them … it just changed the situation.”

Josh Franks knows that from first hand. He came to the program as a homeless outdoor, fighting dependence since the age of 11.

“I was the guy that mom said:” Get out of my house and never come back “, said Franks.

But the horse did not know anything about its history.

“They don’t ask you where you come from, how did you get here, what did you do? They don’t judge me,” he said.

The Franks started to clean the stands. Two and a half years later, he oversees the care of 178 horsepower.

“I was literally in the street, crying my eyes every day, begging God to withdraw from this earth. Four hours on this farm, I smiled again. I had a horse in my hand. I just have the impression of having a goal and it was there to take care of these animals,” said Franks. “These horses loved me to life.”

It’s not just therapy, but hard work with precious horses. Participants acquire skills by treating and forming thoroughbreds that can one day become derby winners.

“You never know which horse you are touching … It could be the next champion of the breeder’s cup,” said Franks.

Taylor calls horses the “secret sauce” of the program.

“There is a link between a broken person and a special horse and healing,” he said. “They come here, they are depressed, they are anxious, they are nervous. And you put them with a horse, the light returns in their eyes.”

For the Franks, horses are not the only factor.

“When you talk about the stable recovery program, it’s the communion-bar none. I can call one of these guys if I am struggling. I’m with these guys all the time. And then you add the horse and that’s right … It’s a game changer,” he said.

This brotherhood is an essential element of the program. Dormitory style life, 12 -step meetings, daily work and family style cuisine create a strong feeling of community.

The approach seems to work. Twenty-five people have finished the one year program, 22 of which are still sober and work in the horse industry. Other farms have started to recognize stable recovery graduates as hard work.

“They see the value of these people and they are ready to give them a chance. And so far, these people have proven themselves each time,” said Countzler.

Now stable recovery is developing. In early September, he opened his first house for women in an equestrian farm managed by women. Countzler and Taylor hope to extend the model more.

“I want to see him expanded across the country,” said Taylor Saod. “And I want to see more horses used to cure more people in all areas of life.”