Kentucky horse farm supports sobriety with ‘Stable Recovery’ program

By Mark Strassmann, Eye of America, CBS News

LEXINGTON, Ky. (CBS News) – One Kentucky horse farm rides hard on expectations. You’re up at 5 a.m., ready to work, clean and sober.

Taylor Made Farm offers a drug and alcohol rehab program called Stable Recovery, where you’ll find roughly 50 men recovering from addictions.

You’ll also find 750 thoroughbreds.

Christian Countzler says, “A big part of addiction and recovery is being honest with yourself. It’s real easy to be honest with a horse.”

Countzler and Frank Taylor are both in recovery. Coutzler now steers Stable Recovery, while Taylor’s family owns Taylor Made Farm, the world’s largest seller of Thoroughbreds.

Stable Recovery is a year-long, 12-step program, free for participants, and funded by private donors. Participants work here, live here and heal here.

The men show up, and the horses help put them back together, helping them to build a new life.

One of the men, Josh Franks, arrived as a homeless ex-felon, fighting addiction since he was 11 years old.

Franks says, “That’s the hit right there. They don’t ask. They don’t ask where you come from. How’d you get here, what’d you do? They don’t judge me.”

Franks started by cleaning out the stalls. Two and a half years later, he supervises the care of 178 horses.

Franks says, “I literally was on the street, crying my eyes out every single day, begging God to take me off this earth. Four hours into this farm, I’m smiling again. I got a horse in my hand. I just, I feel like I have a purpose, and that was to take care of these animals.”

“These horses loved me back to life,” Franks added.

Twenty-five people have completed the one-year program. Twenty-two are still sober, and they’re all working on horse farms.

Sobriety’s a tough track. These thoroughbreds help go the distance. To learn more about the program, click here.