The Winner’s Circle

Story and Photos by DEBORAH A. MILES

About 10 miles south of New Paltz, a very unique horse farm nestles in a bucolic area with a splendid view of the Catskill Mountains.

A van pulls in on a mild December day and a group of men shuffle out, grinning and swaying to music from a radio in a nearby barn.

The horses are roaming and grazing in various fenced-in pastures. One is isolated in a large, circular pen because he is a fairly new arrival. His name is C.L. Rib, a retired thoroughbred who never won a race.
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One of the men from the van struts over to “Rib.” The horse is visibly thin and injured. His name, unfortunately, suits him. The man gently strokes him, places a halter around his head, and gets him ready for his afternoon walk.

Hard time
This man and the others aren’t there doing an act of good will because it is the holiday season. They are serving hard time at Wallkill Correctional Facility, a medium security prison in Ulster County. Their crimes range from drunk driving to murder.

“This horse farm is an inmate teaching program with dual rewards,” said Jim Tremper, a PEF member and Wallkill vocational instructor. “Our goal is to help the inmates become better citizens upon their release, and provide much needed care to retired thoroughbreds.”

Tremper, who heads the horse farm, said it currently has 42 horses and 20 inmates in the program.

Bullies learn a gentle hand
“I enjoy watching the guys interact with the horses,” Tremper said. “Once in awhile, we get a big, tough stone-faced guy with a real attitude. He wants to do things his way, and no other way.

“I assigned one guy to three horses. He was a former Army ranger with a major attitude problem. I was tending to a horse in a nearby stall, when I heard him yelling ‘help, help!’ I found him upside down, lying in sawdust with his feet over his head. He tried to get tough and bully the horse, and the horse didn’t take it. Eventually, the guy learned the balance of a firm but gentle hand. He was in the program for more than a year, and left with a totally different attitude.”

Compassion rules
Tremper doesn’t take credit for the change in these men. “It’s the horses,” he said. “It’s just the horses.”

He has seen hundreds of men and horses go through the program. It began in 1984, when a gelding named Promised Road came to Wallkill, the first horse ever under the care of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF). Some horses stay at Wallkill till the end of their lives, others are adopted or shipped to other TRF facilities.

When the men enter the program, they shadow a teacher’s aide and learn how to put out feed, clean water tanks, maintain essential supplies and blanket a horse. They become grooms, hot walkers and barn bosses.

The men develop a rapport with the horses, and then a mutual healing occurs. The horses get healthier and adjust to a new lifestyle. The inmates talk about trust, respect and compassion.

In their own words
“When the thoroughbreds come here, they are broken, abused and hard to handle. They are just like us,” said Timothy Gavigan.

“Love is the most important ingredient we give these horses. They were racehorses, vehicles. Here, they get affection. They learn to become a sweet animal, a companion and not a vehicle. It gives you a good feeling to accomplish this. It’s more than tending to their basic needs,” Gavigan said.

Dax Rodriguez, who has been at Wallkill for more than 15 years, echoed that sentiment. “Tending to the horses has taught me responsibility, but mostly a new level of compassion.”

You may wonder if the experience is a lasting one.

Jay Schleifer, a former Wallkill inmate, is now a PEF member, working as an alcohol and substance abuse counselor at Hale Creek Treatment Center in Johnstown.

“The program changed my life around,” Schleifer said. “I learned to be myself around the horses. We were all in bad shape, and I developed a bond with them. I learned about love, trust and caring. Together, we made it.”

MUTUAL AFFECTION — (Top) Say Revain gets attention from Tremper and three Wallkill inmates at the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation horse farm. (Center) Timothy Gavigan hugs Mrs. Kennedy. (Below) Robert Crump strokes C.L. Rib.

The Communicator Feb. 2007

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