Lucky Orphans Horse Rescue opens facilities to at-risk youth

DOVER PLAINS — Beyond providing a sanctuary for horses and dedicating its facilities to educating the community and strengthening the relationship between horses and people, Lucky Orphans Horse Rescue in Dover Plains opened its facilities this past summer to help six participants from the Juvenile Risk Intervention Services Coordination (J-RISC) program build skills in communication, leadership, empathy and compassion through the EquiNorth Equine Assisted Youth Development Program. 

For the past five years, Lucky Orphans Horse Rescue has maintained a working relationship with Dutchess County Office of Probation and Community Corrections. During that time, the youth involved with the county’s J-RISC program have visited Lucky Orphans Horse Rescue to volunteer and fulfill their community service. As the relationship between the organizations grew with time, Dutchess County Office of Probation and Community Corrections became more familiar with the development programs at Lucky Orphans, resulting in the development of an eight-week pilot program designed to partner rehabilitated horses with young people involved in the juvenile justice system.

According to a press release distributed by Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro’s office, the J-RISC program “provides intensive services for youth ages 12-17 involved with the juvenile justice system, who are at a high risk to recidivate.” Using a team intervention approach, the program aspires to reduce recidivism as well as prevent out-of-home placement.

Running Saturday, June 1 through Thursday, Aug. 29, six J-RISC participants met at Lucky Orphans for eight weekly sessions where they engaged in hands-on exercises with animals to learn observation, patience, communication and respect and completed assignments that dealt with topics including anger management, organizational skills and self-care. 

To help participants get better acquainted with the horses, Lucky Orphans Horse Rescue Executive Director and Founder Deanna Mancuso said participants were given specific activities to complete, such as connecting with the horses in a way that allowed the horse to build trust and relax around them. While it took time and experience with the horses for the participants to understand the impact of their behavior, Mancuso said leadership skills flourished by program’s end.

“We’ve had some kids make huge leaps and bounds in their personal lives,” she said.

Mancuso also noted how well the participants did by including their parents in the program, adding that it gave the participants a huge sense of success.

“It’s amazing to see these young minds literally changing for the better in front of my eyes and knowing they have a chance to develop into successful young adults and hopefully adult leaders in our community,” Mancuso said. “To be able to take kids that maybe didn’t have a future or didn’t think they had a future… they realized they can rise above a lot of different things.”