There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.

I believe that Sir Winston Churchhill, the great British leader of WWII, had it right when he quoted the ancient Greek proverb, "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man." (or woman, boy, girl). I am not alone in this belief as many other people have had this quote attributed to them including the American Humorist Will Rogers and President Ronald Reagan. Nowhere was this more evident to me than at the Juvenile Detention/ Treatment Facility where I worked for 9 years.

This facility for troubled youth was located on a ranch setting with horses, cattle, and other farm animals that the kids regularly interacted with. The horses however, were the focus of the treatment program. The horses were the focus because they were effective at helping those kids. In some cases they worked miracles, touching kids when nothing else could.

We had a diverse population of kids at "The Ranch". Some were there because they were in trouble with the law, some because of mental health issues, some were abused or neglected, and some were there because no one wanted them.

I remember in particular a boy who had never really bonded with another living being before. His file listed his parents whereabouts as "unknown". He had been in a series of foster homes without making any important emotional attachments to anyone. At first he did not want to work with the horses. When he finally did decide to give the horse thing a try, he picked a horse that was on the low end of the pecking order. I guess it was a horse he could relate to. He grew to love the horse and was able to use the relationship with the horse as a bridge to finally make some meaningful relationships with staff and other residents.

After he had been there for about 9 or 10 months, he asked me what he had to do to stay at the ranch. I asked him why he wanted to stay. He replied, "This is the best place I've ever been." I asked him what made it good and he quickly answered "the horses". After a short pause he added a couple of names of people. I thought it was sad that he considered a juvenile detention facility the best place he had been but was pleased to note he had some relationships with people that were important to him. He went on to add, "If I do good  I will graduate the program and will have to leave. If I do bad I'll be transferred to the state run detention facility. So what do I do?" Seems unfair that a kid of 13 is put in that situation.

A girl came to the ranch shortly after I started work there. She was totally uncommunicative to men. She would not acknowledge my existence when she came over to the arena to participate in horsemanship class. But about 6 weeks later I knew I was making progress when she responded to my, "Good morning, how are you?", by speaking to her horse, "Smokey, TELL MR. KING I AM JUST FINE!! "For the next couple of months we communicated through her horse. I'd tell Smokey to tell her something and she would answer back by telling Smokey what she wanted me to hear.

Then one day while we were talking through Smokey, she she told him (just loud enough for me to hear) about some horrific abuse her mother forced her into. Later that day she told her therapist about the abuse during a group therapy session. At that point the healing began. The horse gave her enough courage to tell someone about what happened to her.

Eight years later she came back to the ranch to visit. She was well dressed. She had a nice car. She said she was a regional manager for a large corporation. She watched a horsemanship class, took a chair out, and sat in the arena while I fed the horses and did afternoon chores. When I got back she told me, "I just had to sit here at the place that saved me". There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a-- girl.