Gateway HorseWorks in Malvern helps people struggling with addiction by letting them get close to horses and groom and care for them, writes Scott Simon for NPR. 

The program helps individuals who are trying to recover feel strength and understanding, and begins a kind of kinship between them and horses. 

The experience for people struggling with addiction is “very similar to the horses, actually, because these are rescue horses,” said a 33-year-old man who is still in recovery. “I believe Willow is a racehorse, yeah, that was going to be slaughtered. So we all kind of, like, share, like, this trauma really.” 

In addition, all the people in the program are addicts and alcoholics, “so it kind of helps when we all come together and we talk about our issues and everything like that,” he added. 

Kristen de Marco, founder of Gateway HorseWorks, said that the unique thing about horses is that they have not read the person’s file. 

“They don’t care how many times you’ve relapsed or what your count is in recovery,” she said, “If you’ve been incarcerated. None of that matters. You get a clean slate with them that you don’t get with other people.” 

Read more about how Gateway HorseWorks helps people with addiction at NPR. 

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