Equine Industry: Young Offenders/Disadvantaged Teenagers - Info Please

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Hi

Not sure if I'm posting this in the correct forum so apologies in advance!

I am doing research into how horses can offer a career path &/or help rehabilitate youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly young offenders and those with learning difficulties that have been removed from mainstream education.

Does anyone know of any schemes that are currently available? I vaguely remember an article in Horse & Hound where a racing college had offered apprentice opportunities to disadvantaged teens but cannot find any details on the web.

I would really appreciate your comments/opinions on the subject, feel free to PM me if you prefer.

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The Emile Faurie foundation has just agreed to help students at our school.

We are the 5th most deprived borough in the UK with one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in the UK.

It won't make all our problems go away but we certainly hope it will make a difference to the quality of their lives and provide enrichment and maybe a new career focus.
 
Hmm..at a RS I used to work at they did one day a week riding/stable management for a centre which was for people with learning difficulties and I think, rehabilitated ex offenders. Might be worth googling Sutton Centre (Nottinghamshire) to get some more info if this is of interest - these people really seemed to enjoy their time with the horses and were great at grooming, bandaging etc!
 
This is a topic that touches my heart as I had a rough time as a teenager at home (family problems, family members drinking, etc) and if it wasn't for horses (my weekly riding lesson scraped together with babysitting money!), I don't know where I'd be now!

Horses definitely kept me on the straight and narrow and were my anchor during the many years of problems so I can 100% see how they would help young offenders and kids with problems like I had. If I were rich, I'd open up a riding stable for kids going through rough times to help them.
 
[ QUOTE ]
This is a topic that touches my heart as I had a rough time as a teenager at home (family problems, family members drinking, etc) and if it wasn't for horses (my weekly riding lesson scraped together with babysitting money!), I don't know where I'd be now!

Horses definitely kept me on the straight and narrow and were my anchor during the many years of problems so I can 100% see how they would help young offenders and kids with problems like I had. If I were rich, I'd open up a riding stable for kids going through rough times to help them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this, I ha a similar upbringing and it was definetly the ponies that kept me on the right path xx
 
If you want a European perspective, one of horses has just been re-homed here. It's in France and they do wonderful work with the horses and the kids. The owner speaks English.
 
I was involved with an RDA Group for 10 years and young men from Young Offenders came as helpers. Many of them got a lot out of it realising that the disabled and mentally handicapped needed their help and some wanted to go on and work with horses after prison. Most had never been near a horse before but were soon leading and being watchful of their rider.
The Princess Royal visited our Group as both RDA and helping Young Offenders are amongst her charities see the BUTLER TRUST http://www.thebutlertrust.org.uk/
 
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