Riding to Responsibility

Police Chief Rhett Davis has taken an innovative approach to crime in the town of Powers, Ore. (pop. 682). Instead of arresting wayward teenagers, he wants to give them a horse. There are some stipulations, however: the youths must stay free of crime, drugs and alcohol, must not get pregnant, and must get passing grades for three years.

Since Davis started his RIDER (Realizing Individual Dreams Equestrian Ranch) program in May 2000, nearly 150 youths have signed contracts to live clean lives. In return, Davis, 46, promises them a horse, and instructs them how to ride, train, and care for it, all the while teaching them self-respect and responsibility.

“I’ve arrested some of these kids for marijuana, alcohol, criminal mischief and vandalism,” Davis says. “But it’s a lot more pleasant to deal with them this way. I’d rather be proactive now than actively arresting them later on.”

About 10 to 15 percent of participants drop out because of drug and alcohol problems, but the ones who stay in the program turn their lives around.

“Two girls who had failing grades and brushes with the law recently completed high school and went on to college, donating their horses back to the program,” Davis says proudly.

Kathwryne Carter, 12, who recently joined Davis’ program, signed up because she was getting poor grades and having a difficult time at school.

“Now, I don’t get so upset in class,” says Carter, who helps out around the 92-acre ranch. “It’s a real motivator to keep my grades up because I love the horses and I like to ride Romeo in our special event—barrel racing.”

Kids such as Carter not only take care of the ranch’s 70 horses, they also cut firewood, fix fences, and build corrals. To keep the horses in hay and ride herd on his young charges, Davis relies on a core of community volunteers, plus grants (the Ford Foundation gave the ranch $25,000) and local donations of money and feed.

But Davis’ most valued commodity is his time, acting as a surrogate father to eight to 10 kids every day, and upwards of 45 youths during trail rides. “It’s quite a posse,” says Davis, a single father with six children of his own.

In fact, his cowboys and cowgirls-in-training often turn to Davis when they’re having problems. “I really trust him,” Carter says. “He has helped me and the other kids be more confident.”

Davis is single-minded in his devotion to keeping kids out of trouble. He invites them to use the gym in his house and has even opened a teen drop-in center at the RIDER office in downtown Powers, where kids can play pool and computer games, and watch movies.

“My vision is that we will someday have satellite ranches all over the nation with bunkhouses for inner city kids to spend a week at these ranches and ride horses,” Davis says.

Those satellite ranches don’t have bunkhouses yet, but Davis now has six volunteers around Oregon—in Eugene, Springfield, Cottage Grove and Salem—who have expanded his outreach to troubled kids.

Amanda Bollhorst, 13, of Springfield, joined Johnny Van Ordon’s program in Eugene after her grades started to slip. She now rides in 4-H and Pony Club shows.

“The program has made me work hard to keep my horse, Herbie,” Bollhorst says. “If I keep my pledge, he will be mine someday.”

But Bollhorst does more than just ride. “I have to help pay for his food and care, so we hold candy fund-raisers and car washes to raise money.”

Helping kids learn responsibility is an important part of Davis’ program, but nothing gives him more satisfaction than “watching kids that come from homes with abuse and drugs, who were angry and cussing when they first arrived, and then seeing them smiling and happy.”

Most of all, Davis, a police officer since 1978, has accomplished what many law enforcement officers only dream of doing: he’s won the trust of teenagers in his community.

Karen Karvonen is a freelance writer in Englewood, Colo.

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