Dr. T and the Kids             

By Liz Harris                                                                      Anthony & Thecla Howard

I start each day highly motivated, with marketing and donations a daily priority. It's easy to get caught up in fund raising when you feel the pulse of the groups we grant to and their unmet needs. Thoroughbred Charities of America, (“TCA”), runs on 7 cents on the dollar, precluding visits to all 170 groups we've granted to, but once in a while, one is close to home. Each visit gets me in touch with the small steps that add up to giant leaps when it comes to horses and people, two priorities for TCA.

Sheltered Risks, a non-profit which runs a traditional kids' camp called Kamp Kessa, is a haven for all teens that could benefit from a vacation from our society. It is run by an intuitive husband and wife team and their dedicated volunteers, who decided to give up their “day” jobs, sell everything and put it all into a beautiful parcel of rolling hills and trees, outmatched only by their 50 gorgeous horses, made possible through tax deductible racehorse donations. Assuming every teenager is a potentially at-risk youth, Dr. T and her husband Anthony Howard, provide 25 kids at a time a week-long camp experience including riding lessons, wilderness education, cabin and tent camping experiences down to the last s'more. Upon initial personality assessments, children are paired up according to complimentary attributes and are set to work and play, far from the media and electronic influences of the outside world.

Despite the fact I heard a lot of dreams and plans followed by, “when we get more funding” I could have spent a week at Kamp Kessa and not written the entire story. That's because the children who surrounded and engaged me in their trail ride stories or hunt-jump tribulations seemed not to notice anything was missing. When I looked over the sea of saddled horses, while dodging a particularly rambunctious Thoroughbred, a boy came up and brought me a chair to sit on—in the middle of the field. Their stories and experiences were testimonies to the simple idea of matching up off-the-track Thoroughbreds with “off the track” children. Articulate and engaging, each child came with their own story, sometimes better left at home. Once at camp, the tarnish came off with the tack cleaning, both horse and child a star once again.