Second chance program caring for aged horses, inmates prepare for reentry
Second Chances Farm has graduated 10
Edward Rybolt considers himself lucky to have received another chance. A heroin habit nearly destroyed his life, damaging his relationships with his family and driving him to a bank robbery attempt that netted him a 10-year prison sentence.
Paroled after serving three years, sober and gainfully employed, Rybolt credits an unusual corrections program that allows inmates to spend their days caring for retired racehorses. It's an opportunity that he says helped build the compassion and patience he'd need to re-enter society.
"At first when I tried to lead the horse, I would pull and pull, but it never went anywhere," he said. "But you can't move a 1,000-pound animal. I had to change my tactics, be gentle."
The farm, a rehabilitation center tucked away in a rural nook of Sykesville, was created from a partnership with the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, which cares for racehorses that might otherwise be sent to a slaughterhouse.
Inmates from the correctional facility travel to the farm and work every day for seven hours with the six horses, said Conni Swenson, program coordinator for Second Chances Farm.
The 60-acre facility was renovated entirely by the inmates, Swenson said, including fencing, the barn and stable areas, the pastures and the stables.
Swenson teaches the inmates the Elite Groomsmen program, an intensive curriculum used nationally in schools and in professional tracks. Participants learn veterinary tactics, how to groom and maintain the horses and the nuances of a horse's anatomy, such as hoof health.
But the most important skill the inmates learn is patience, Swenson said.
"When they come down here, they've been incarcerated and they have a tough exterior, and to work successfully with horses you have to open yourself," she said.
Upon his release, Rybolt said, he reopened the power-washing and landscaping business that he lost because of his drug problem. He didn't believe he could restart his entire life's work, but the work at the farm inspired him to try.
Now Rybolt said he focuses on hiring workers he feels deserves a second chance, including those with a criminal record. He also assists at a halfway house where he met his wife, Jamie.
"People don't want someone who is book-smart — they want who's been there," he said. "I can help turn someone's life around, and I owe 80 percent of that to this program. The other part is me. I wanted to change."