From exciting news.

This is connections.

I'm Eric Logan, filling in for Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made over 20 years ago, when our guest took action on a vision which incubated out of his own childhood and his own love for horses.

It's not every day that you get to have a conversation with someone whose dream and vision has become a reality in such a powerful way.

And too often when we hear about problems of almost any kind.

The response is to complain or feel helpless or feel that it's inevitable.

But here's a wonderful example of a person who is taking his vision and dreams and made it a reality for the benefit of the community he loves.

Matthew Downward founded the organization A Horse's Friend in 2004 with the Vision Become, an outreach program whose mission was to expose youth from the inner city and underserved populations to the world of horses.

Well, this vision has become a reality with over 5000 such youth, disadvantaged and otherwise underprivileged children attending a horse.

His friend or ARF has proved and has provided children alternatives to street activities that may lead to truancy, violence and drug use.

Working with inner city youth and members of the community in promoting positive values, increasing social competencies, and teaching children to respect themselves and others through working with horses.

Today, on connections, we're going to learn more about Matthew Howard and his vision.

We're going to learn more about the organization of horses friend and the difference he and his team have been making in our community.

We're also going to reveal the secret sauce and the why and how of interacting with horses, and how they can make such a difference in people's lives.

This hour, we are inviting you to be a part of the conversation.

Do you have a story to tell about how your engagement with horses or other members of the animal kingdom have changed you?

We indeed will welcome your calls at five, eight, five.

Oh, I put the wrong number in there again.

I was going to say four, five, four, six, three, 300, because that's the number I am used to using for fundraising and, and asking for your support.

And I guess what I'm going to do is ask for your support.

if you've been enjoying connections with Evan Dawson, we would encourage you to become a member of PSI.

But we're inviting you to become a member, of this particular conversation by calling 844295825 5 or 5 eight five.

That's also talk 855 or 5 852639994 or connections at six I dot board.

And you can also enter the chat on the YouTube stream that we're having right now.

So, we'd like to encourage you to do that.

first I'd like to welcome our guest, Matthew Dollard, founder and executive director of A Horse's Friend.

Welcome.

Thank you very much.

Glad to be here.

I think you're going to have to flip the headphones to make sure that the, that you can hear what's going on.

There we go.

Yeah, there we are.

That's.

It's all right.

So, Matthew, tell us a little about you.

And I had a great conversation, in preparation for this program.

And I was just fascinated with the history of how you got to this point.

Would you share that with our listeners?

Sure.

So, originally, I grew up in Batavia, New York, 30, 40 miles away from here.

had friends growing up who had, racehorses at Batavia Downs.

And, I would spend a night over their house, wake up in the morning, 5 or 6:00, and jump in the car and head to the racetrack to clean stalls and, take care of horses.

it was it was nothing about riding horses that was never, ever, a concept.

And, Batavia Downs, their horses are they pull a cart so you don't ride them anyways.

But it was just, you know, the atmosphere of being around a bunch of guys.

Well, older guys, come from a single family home, so I didn't have a father.

but it was just empowering to be around, you know, 1,000 pound animal that's just strong, as you can imagine.

And, and we got to welcome, you know, at the age of nine, ten and, it just stuck with me.

So I think my grandfather may have had horses early on, but I vaguely can only vaguely remember.

And this is down in, Cape in Virginia, where our family homestead is.

what I remember more so is when he was pasturing cows for other people.

so, so my first real interaction with horses, you know, happened at a camp, and it was just, you know, of a single take, hop on the horse, and we're going to walk them around and go for a ride.

But but every day, on my way to school, in high school, the bus took us right past the Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore, Maryland.

And I'll be honest, as I looked over there, I didn't see a roll for me.

Right?

I didn't see myself in the crowds that were there and and the people, to talk a little bit about that for me, I guess it's pretty much the same had I not been spending the night over my friends houses, we wouldn't be having this conversation because horses were never a part of my family's life.

where anybody else that was in the projects where I grew up.

So by chance, they had to go to work.

I spent the night and I went and just, attached myself to it, and and it's, you know, the, the things that they teach you just sticks with you.

So it was just it was a big draw for me because it was work for them.

and it was just an experience for me, a fun experience that I could basically just walk away from.

But they had to actually continue it.

And so I think that's probably why it stuck with me is because it was, once in a lifetime chance or an opportunity and I didn't have to do it.

so it just meant that much to me.

What are unique coming together of circumstance so you got to volunteer to do work with horses?

but it wasn't something that was a 6 a.m. call for you every day.

So it never became a grudge, never became grueling.

And so you got to experience over time.

You got to experience the good part of it and fall in love with it.

And then, like I used to tell my employees, you know, when they talked about their work, I would, you know, they would say, I don't like doing that part.

And I said, well, you know, if you own a dog, you still got to pick up the poop.

So you might love the dog, but if you really want to have a dog, you got to be willing to do the hard work.

You got to learn that.

Exactly.

And and my sense is that it was life changing for you.

definitely.

which is why I started A Horse's Friend because I knew, what the positive positives were for me as a, as a young boy growing up.

And I wanted my son to actually get that same experience.

So I went out and got it to a few horses and, and the rest is history.

You make it sound so easy.

I went out and I got a few horses.

Well, I ended up moving to Atlanta, and, but at this time, horses were so far removed from my life, I wasn't.

I was into sports, got out of sports, and now I was working, moved to Atlanta.

was working at a car wash, and some guys came through the car wash. they had to take their saddles out of the back of the car wash. And it happened to be black guys.

So being a little bit ignorant, I, you know, went up to him, said, hey, are you guys black cowboys?

And they were like, yeah, you know.

So they gave me a their business card.

And I said, hey, anytime you want to come out to the ranch, give me a call.

I think I called them within the week and I was out to the ranch and, the, the family dynamics that were out there was just amazing.

It was, blacks, Mexicans, and white people, and they all owned horses.

But it was family.

So there was, you know, my buddy Ricky, he had, two boys and a daughter, and I think his youngest daughter, his daughter was maybe five at the time, but she had her own pony, and that was just just blew my mind because I just didn't see that here in Western New York.

There was just, you know, black people just weren't riding horses.

So it just stuck with me.

So I decided I wanted to come back to Rochester and give my son and my daughters that opportunity.

And he hated it because he thought it was punishment.

I, I, you know, I tell that story all the time, whether he's with me or not.

He he literally would cry because he thought it was punishment, because he did it and he would tell me he's a black.

People don't ride horses.

You.

Why are you making me do this?

So I said, you know what?

You go out and you talk to your cousin.

start talking to some of the kids in your in your class and we'll, you know, get them out and about or out to the farm.

And, and he would network with me so we would come into the studio with his pony and my horse, and we would ride around in neighborhoods and go to different rec centers and things like that.

And the program just started to grow.

so if, if you expose people to different things, you give them an opportunity to say yay or nay.

And and we never had that opportunity here in the city until a horse's friend came around.

So wow, wow, it without without getting political, it is unfortunate.

I would bet that of our listeners today, more than half, maybe almost all are surprised to hear about black cowboys.

Right.

Our culture, the majority culture has either intentionally or unintentionally, by focusing on themselves, have a, have kept that out of our written history and out of our, the experiential history.

So, how have you been overcoming that.

well it goes back to growing up in potatoes.

So there wasn't a lot of blacks and potatoes.

So you just got used to what you saw and what was taught to you.

So, you know, I was taught when I was having a conversation with you before the the majority of what I watch, you know, at the farm is, is Westerns.

It might be Bonanza, it might be Rawhide, it might be, Gunsmoke.

They're, you know, there's no blacks in those videos.

But at this point in time, it's it's not a thought for me.

but if if there's an, a document or something like that that does come up on YouTube or something like that, I definitely make sure that the kids are getting the opportunity to see that.

But at this point in time, trying to find those, it's it's a little hard, because it has been whitewashed, I guess what I saying?

Yeah.

but I just keep we just keep going forward.

Want to invite your calls today?

as a reminder, we're talking to Mike Matthew Downward, founder and executive director of A Horse's Friend, and would love to have you join the conversation at 844295 talk.

Or that's 844295825 5 or 5 852639994 or connections at WXXI York.

Or if you're watching live on YouTube, you can interact with us via the chat.

the folks Julie will see that in the in the studio and and send that over to me so that we can ask your question.

But either way, we'd really like to have you here as a part of the conversation.

My wife Anne has, you talk about the impact of horses.

My wife, Anne had a horse when she was a child.

Vicki.

and it it it taught her several things as she's conveyed the story to me.

number one, she had to earn the money to get the horse right.

So there was some discipline there.

And then she was responsible for grooming the horse, and she was responsible for the money to help board the horse when the horse was not on the on their in their backyard out in Pittsford parenting area.

those are things that I think those are life skills that people learn.

Oh, definitely.

And they stick with you for, for the duration of your life.

Like we've, part of our program is, well, there's a program in Philadelphia that's called Work to Ride, and our program is similar that you literally if you're going to come out to the farm, you take ownership of a horse at some point in time, but you're responsible for all those different things.

You have to groom it if you want to ride it.

You have to learn how to walk it.

You have to learn how to take care of the tack that goes on on the horse.

so being responsible, being committed, I tell the kids, if, if you're a part of the program and want to be there, honored, you know, for a long period of time, you can't just take off a month and then pop back in, like, who's taking care of that horse for that month while you're not there?

So, being committed to something, signing up for something, is not a willy nilly, type of a deal.

You really have to be all in and and it's a live animal, so it's dependent on us to take care of it.

And, so you've got to be there 100%.

Yeah.

We're going to take our first caller.

Welcome to connections.

Hello.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

Yes, welcome to connections.

This is Don from East Baxter.

Hey, Don.

Welcome.

I would like to ask.

Ask your guest if he's familiar with an institution.

It's called the National Museum of Black Cowboys.

It's in Denver, Colorado.

Now, I've never been there.

It's kind of.

I've never been to Denver, but I've read a lot about it.

I just wondered if he's familiar with that.

I have heard about it.

and once again, and I've never been there as well, but I have.

I am familiar with it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Don, you said you have not been there.

Done.

I have not been there.

But if I ever do go to Denver, I would like to, go to that place.

There's also one, organization in Denver, made up of gay, and lesbian cowboys.

Also.

And I would like to investigate that.

how did you hear about these?

I'm just reading about them.

reading about, I have a, travel book about Denver, Colorado, and it mentions those things.

Excellent.

Well done.

Thank you so much for calling and, sharing that information with our with the rest of our listeners.

Okay.

Thank you.

Bye bye.

Good stuff.

Thank you.

Bye bye.

We have an email from Michael, if I can read this correctly here.

back in the 1950s, I was a young child walking with my grandfather across the old driving part bridge.

This was the golden era of Westerns on TV.

I saw these iron rings, and I asked my grandfather what they were for.

He said they were for tying up horses.

And he told me about being 14 years old and driving a herd of horses across the bridge and delivering them to the man his father sold them to.

This made my grandfather an even more heroic figure in my mind.

That's amazing.

It is.

Horses were a part of our existence, especially in Rochester.

There are, a friend who was passed, who owned the hardware store right down the street from us.

had a house, over there in the south wedge that had a horse barn in the back.

Not a car barn, not old garage, but, actual horse barn.

there was a time when people were keeping horses right here in the city.

Yes.

so, we've spent a lot of time riding in the city, and I did ride with a retired police officer who actually talked about when he was growing up.

His dad, I think, used to deliver milk in the city of Rochester, with horses.

And, we talked about the different shoes that they would have had to have, but, it's not that far removed from from being here.

From have been here.

Yeah.

What percentage of cowboys do you think were black cowboys?

That's a good question.

I'm going to probably say at least 50%.

Wow.

from from the movies that I have seen and, documentaries that I have seen, and read.

I'd have to say at least 50%.

And most of those are more recently created.

They're not, they're not what we were watching back in the back in the John Wayne eras.

And this isn't, it's not unheard of.

I want to share a story that really isn't related to horses, but it is related to how we share history.

when I was a kid, there was this great TV show on.

Well, I don't know if it's great or not, but it it was a comedy, I believe, called The Real McCoy.

It was about a farmer's family somewhere out in the Midwest as people were moving out in that direction.

And it was a white farming family.

And, you know, the old guy was a curmudgeon.

At least that's what I can remember of the show.

And that was a long time ago.

And so and the term the real, real McCoy kind of just rang out.

Right?

That's the name of the show and, you know, real McCoy is this family.

It was as an adult that I learned that, there was a inventor whose last name was McCoy, an African-American who invented a way of oil, oiling or lubricating the trains while they were in motion because of the gears that needed constant lubrication.

So they didn't.

Caesar, he made the that that creation.

There were others that copied that creation, but they weren't as good.

And so on the railroad, you would hear them look at the train, or at least this is what I'm told would look at the train or or assess the train and say, no, don't install that.

We want the real McCoy.

Right.

So the real McCoy is an African American inventor, completely hidden from me because of a TV show that used the phrase for their own good or bad.

but didn't go further and say, hey, here's what the real McCoy is.

Well, it's a that kind of stuff.

So anyway, we have, I believe, on the Sammy from Rochester.

Welcome, Sammy to connections.

Hi.

Hey.

Good to have you here.

Thanks.

I was just tuning into the radio, and I heard that horse's friend, and I was a participant.

Ooh.

Tell us more.

I don't know if he remembers, but I went to school.

That was.

And I was the only boy that was part of the group that went.

So did you guys come out and do that?

Was that when we had the, police officers out there with us, or was it, an encounter day?

You might not remember, but I don't remember the police officers.

But I remember we came out, like, old Volkswagen, like.

And that would have been our.

It was a Chevy van.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, you, you're more than welcome to still come out.

Yeah.

That's why I was calling to see if, how could I be involved as an adult rather than being a part of the program as a youth?

Well, we're always looking for adult adult volunteers.

And my number is (585) 749-9885.

Just give me a call.

Hold on a second.

You got to give me that one more time.

No problem.

(585) 749-9885.

And I will ask Julie and Rob to put that telephone number on the website so that it's easy to find.

And, when you come to listen to the podcast.

So, so what did you Sami, what did you learn?

What what do you carry with you from having been a part of the horse's friend?

What I can say I took away was in order to reap the benefits, you have to put in the work.

So, just like you said, in order to ride the horses, we had to groom them.

Welcome and take instruction and listen to the horse.

you know, so that's what I would say is the biggest takeaway.

I would say probably one of the biggest surprises is that you said, listen to the horse.

You want to talk a little bit about that.

What is listening to the horse?

I remember a occasion where one of the horses was being pushy, and you kind of just have to.

Accept the feedback and learn how to react to it in order to get the result that you wanted.

whether it was to turn left or right.

Or to not run.

Because the horses can sense what you're feeling, you know, in a way.

Yeah.

Definitely.

Definitely.

And the more anxious you get, the more anxious they get.

Yeah.

Well, well, thank you so much for joining us today, Sammy.

And I hope that, I hope that, Matthew will see you as a volunteer, as you give back and, provide a whole nother generation of folks, a whole nother generation of kids, hope and direction and training and education and all that kind of good stuff.

So thanks for joining us today.

No thank you.

Glad to hear Matthew still doing this thing.

Thank you.

Thanks for reaching out.

And hopefully I'll get to meet you, Sammy, again.

You got it.

We're going to take our only break of the hour now.

When we come back, Matthew, I'm going to be asking you to talk more about the program because we've now started to get into what the horse's friend is all about and want to do that.

I do have a call that's on hold that we will get to as well when we come back from our break.

But, just want to remind you that we have, more and more with our guest, Matthew Downward, founder and executive director of horse's Friend.

And of course, as I said, will be opening the phones to hear from you at 844295 talk.

That's 84429582555852639994 or@connections.org.

I'm Evan dawson Monday I'm the next connections economist Eric Morris joins me in the first hour to talk about some news about AI and the effect on the jobs market, especially in the Rochester region.

What's projected?

How could it affect us?

We'll talk about it in our second hour.

Living a car light lifestyle in Western New York.

We'll talk about how some people are trying to do it.

Supporting your favorite programs on TV and radio is just a click away.

When you go public at skywalk.

It's a convenient and secure way of supporting an important community resource skywalk.

Go public and pledge your support today.

We're back.

This is connections.

I'm Eric Logan, sitting in for Evan Dawson.

We're talking about how interactions with animals, horses in particular for this conversation with our guest, Matthew Dollard, founder and executive director of A Horse's Friend.

And we're chatting with you at 844295825 5 or 5 852639994.

Or you can send us an email at Connections at Cyborg.

Or if you happen to be watching live, the live stream on YouTube.

You can also use the chat feature there to get Ahold of us and get any information that you have before we go to, Before we get into the topic of a horse's friend, I want to take our next caller.

Welcome to connections.

Hello.

Hello.

You're on.

And welcome.

this is Sally, and I live in Rochester, and I wanted to tell Matt that I love his program.

He has met me a couple of times because I have visited his location and feel it's important for people to know that it's open to all youth, young people, especially those who have financial problems accessing horse horses because any riding stable.

It's very expensive to keep a horse to keep the horse shod, to do veterinary care.

And he's recently, about a year or two ago found a new home and reestablished all the fencing, the pasture, the indoor and outdoor arena that he needs to run.

Such a program.

And it's now located in rush.

Henrietta in Rush on a property that the town helped him acquire and move into.

And that's important.

And there's foundations in Rochester that are financially helping him, as well as individuals, to be able to run this program for all children, no matter what their background is.

So I just wanted to make that clear.

You don't have to be a black inner city youth to take advantage of this program.

Sally, thank you so much.

I think that's an important distinction that was important to make.

And I'm really glad you called to to share that information with us.

Definitely.

have you have you worked with the horse's friend?

I've visited their.

I haven't worked with them, but I am still a horse owner, and I'm 82 years old.

Oh, wow.

I feel it's the best thing to do.

I used to be a public school nurse in the city of Rochester, and I live in a house in Rochester that was built in 1908 on Barrington Street, and in our backyard is now a garage.

But when the houses were built in this neighborhood, there were no garages.

So some people don't have any driveways or garages because they went up and down Park Avenue on this.

what do you call it?

It wasn't just a bus.

It was the kind that was pulled by a horse, horse trolley kind of thing.

Yeah, on a trolley.

Right.

Exactly.

And most people got around that way here in 1908 to 1919 or so, when they paved Park Avenue.

Wow.

So anyway.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Sally, really appreciate your call today.

To me, that's not that long ago.

It had no old now.

And it's like yesterday.

Yeah, I totally understand that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye bye.

Thank you.

Sally.

Matt, we have an email from a listener that says what programs are available for children?

What transformations?

have you seen in child participants?

so currently we're running our Saturday program, which is run since 2004, that runs in six week increments.

It runs from 9 to 1. actually, I'm sorry, 9 to 3.

We actually up the hours.

and that's that's once again, that's always run since we started the program.

it's where I guess I have to be honest here.

So, after Covid hit or during Covid, we did, we have seen a change in, kids in and programing.

there are a lot less, focus, a lot less, the retention, span is a lot less than it was in, past years.

the, I don't want to say the nurturing, has, has, has dropped, but the, the interest level, I guess I would say, we used to have kids that would come out to the barn.

I kid you not.

They would go in and they would want to be in a stall for hours just grooming a horse.

Whereas now we're finding some of the kids that'll come out and they're literally five, ten minutes in.

It's they're done.

so there has been there's definitely been a change over, you know, probably within the last 5 or 6 years, in programing and seeing difference, a difference in the kids who are coming out.

Wow.

I wish I wish we could do a deeper dive on that, because I think there are a number of, areas where we've seen Covid has taken a hit.

on us in in ways that are subtle.

I don't have the ability to talk about that.

I don't have the knowledge or the or the data behind it, but I you're not the first person who has said that that our kids and even some adults coming back from the Covid, thing, have been impacted by that.

Yeah.

So we have, I want to make sure I get this.

This is Hoover from Pittsford.

Wants to talk about horses in Hawaii.

Hey, Hoover.

Hi.

You're welcome.

I'm enjoying this program.

I'm driving home from doing some ice skating at Tennessee Valley Park.

Okay, so these guys, they got an interesting program, and all of a sudden, the light went on in my head.

I said, I read a lot of books about the Wild West and the, the, the range and how they it was, how they managed it as a business and, etc., etc..

So I'm reading a book about a year ago, and they're talking about some of the rodeos that happened around the turn of the century into the 20th century.

So this would be like 1900, 1902, that era.

And they had the National Rodeo in, Laramie, Wyoming that year.

And for some reason, they, upped the prize money for some of the, contestants and some of the events.

So there was this guy, a Hawaiian guy, native Hawaiian, and he and a African American guy who also was a friend of his, they both worked in, Hawaii on the sugar plantations because, as you know, and especially on the Big Island, there was full of sugar, sugar cane.

And they had to ride their horses around and bring equipment out and do some of the work.

And all these guys had a ride, horses.

They had to be actually cowboys.

So he was a well known cowboy on, the Big Island of Hawaii.

And, he got went to California for, some other work on a very temporary basis.

And his African American friend met him there, and they heard about this rodeo, in, Wyoming.

And they heard about the prize money, and they got a, a leave of absence from what they were doing.

And they took a train to Laramie.

And these guys who had never been in the rodeo, well, they had been in Hawaii, but not in the United States or on.

Yeah.

It was they weren't even a state that they they participated in a couple of events and they came in one into an overall cowboy competition that year.

And I wish I had the name of the book and the name of these two guys.

But I read it and my mouth dropped open.

I had no idea that it was there were loaded with cowboys out in Hawaii.

I would have never known that either.

I would not never be here, you know?

Yeah.

So hopefully you'll find out some, interesting information.

So thanks for taking my call.

I like your show.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Hoover, for calling in and being a part of it and listening to us on your drive.

Safe driving now?

You bet.

Bye bye bye.

So we have an email from Laura Don Flemons and a multi-instrumentalist former member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Oh, wow.

And the Rhiannon Giddens with Rhiannon Giddens, drew upon his own family heritage and unknown aspects of American history to create the album Black Cowboys.

In 2018, Dom Flemons presents Black Cowboys pays tribute to the music, the culture and the complex history of the Golden era of the Wild West.

This is a single volume of music, the first of its kind.

Flemons explores and analyzes this important part of our American identity.

The songs and poems featured on the album Take the Listener on an illuminating journey from the trails to the rails of the Old West.

This central story follows the footsteps of thousands of African-American pioneers who helped build the United States of America.

Laura, thank you so much for that call.

before your note, that helps us.

The email, providing additional information.

We're going to go to, Mark from Rochester, who owns a barn in the city.

Hey, Mark, welcome to connections.

I believe.

You're still there, Mark.

But.

Okay, Maybe not.

So let's talk a little bit more about your program.

About what you do.

And you mentioned, in the call that, that you were always looking for more volunteers.

Yes.

So, currently we have 27 horses on the property.

on any given day, there might be 4 or 5 different people there, helping out.

but this time of the year, coming out of the winter, horses, have been sort of just eating.

So they need some exercise, they need to get groomed.

they need to get back into the normal, program.

routine.

So, we're always looking for volunteers, both young and old.

with the experience or without what?

Would, volunteer, be expected to do?

well, no, I don't do anything that I wouldn't ask a volunteer to do.

So first and foremost, you got to be willing to want to do do stalls.

If you come in and say, you know, I just want to walk a horse, I just want to ride a horse that really doesn't go over well with me.

you really have to want to put in, some of the hard work, but it can be anything from helping us build fences to cleaning stalls to, grooming horses to working with some of the kids in the program.

So, we're we're building a new programing program, for the, for the spring.

And so, having individuals come in, want to work with the kids is is a great thing as well.

Excellent, excellent.

So yes, I you got to be willing to put in the work.

I hear that definitely loudly and clearly.

So Mark is back, talking about the fact that he has a house with, a barn on it marquee.

There.

I am here.

Hey, welcome.

My.

What?

Well.

Thank you.

This is a great conversation.

my wife and I own the original homestead between East Main Street and Clifford.

we actually have a house over on the side of the city that has a barn in the back.

They used to be two rooms pre, 20th century, and it used to be a layover for a horse trader who would sell horses to the Rochester Police Department, the fire department and the Genesee Brewing Company.

Oh.

That's interesting.

I thought it I just thought I'd add that that these places still exist, and, they're still standing.

So.

So my wife Anne tells me that Vic Park A and Vic Park be.

Those are two parallel streets off of off of, Park Avenue was once a horse racetrack.

Can you validate that?

Yeah, yeah I can't.

Okay.

I have to admit to you, I'm a bit intimidated by horses.

I really didn't spend a lot of time around them when I was like, when I was a child.

And so as an adult, they're very large animals.

yes, they are.

It is true.

And, it can be.

It can be imposing.

But but I wanted to talk about that, Matthew, about being intimidated by a horse and maybe how you get over that and the dangers of the horse picking up the fact.

so first of all, we do have some smaller horses for, you know, for to help people get, you know, a little bit more acclimated to, being around horses.

but the biggest thing is, just relaxing.

touch them, touch them, you know, at your own, leisure.

really don't want to, like, we'll get parents.

They don't want to, you know, put their kid up on a horse, and the kids start to scream and hollering, and I'm like, no, you're going to traumatize them.

They'll never get on a horse.

So just let them do it at their own pace.

if it happens today, it happens today.

If it doesn't happen today, it'll happen tomorrow.

Maybe.

But just go at your own pace.

At some point in time, you might be, you know, deciding to join a rodeo, but just do things at your own pace.

work yourself up to it.

But don't, don't overdo it and, stress yourself out.

So it's kind of interesting.

what I've learned second hand, you know, from my spouse in terms of, in terms of horses and, you know, we'll watch the Triple Crown or something like that.

And, you know, she'll talk about, you know, how horses and those are thoroughbreds, which are a whole different, kind of animal.

I think, in terms of temperament.

Right.

And she'll talk about blind spots.

She'll talk about how, how social horses are and, how, how they're how they would prefer to gather and how they make connections with humans.

you know, talk about any of the songs.

So obviously, her horses are hurt animals.

they do have blind spots.

So, you know, one of the biggest things we talk to, you know, kids want to walk up to a horse and just, you know, right in front of it and look at him.

He can't see it directly in front.

They see off to the side.

Isn't that interesting?

It's, you know, you looking at those big eyes and you're looking at it.

It looks like they can see you.

But, you know, we do have a lot of horses that want to nod their head here and there.

And, you know, one of the biggest misconceptions is that the horse is mad because he's, you know, what looks like he's trying to headbutt you, but he's not, you know, he's moving his head.

He probably doesn't know you're there.

Just move to the side.

And and he knows you're there.

So, a lot of the kids that if you come to the barn, the first thing they'll tell you, if you're if they're showing you around, it's it's it's don't stand right in front of me.

Can't see you there.

Just stand up to the side.

So they're learning those things as well.

body language and energy.

They do pick up on that.

So when you're in a in a dark room and, you know, if your hand's not like, we teach to keep one hand on the horse when you brush in, if they move, move with them.

a lot of times they don't know you're there.

So if they step on you, they probably wouldn't even know they're standing on you.

So unless you push them off, try not to scream and holler.

They probably wouldn't even know that they're standing on you.

But they are, you know, 1,000 pounds.

So it's it's like probably standing on a pebble or something like that.

But, once again, the biggest thing in being around them is, is being is common sense.

You know, the first thing somebody wants to say is don't go behind the horse.

But one of the first thing kids do when we're doing program is you get them off a horse, they want to go to the back.

And it's like the first thing you would tell me is not to go to the back, but the first thing you want to do is go to the back.

So, you know, intimidating being a little bit nervous.

but once you conquer all of that, it's all fun and natural and fun.

so, wow.

Our producer, Julie Williams, has confirmed that Vic Park A and Vic Park B in Rochester were once a part of a racetrack owned by James Vick, who later turned, the track into residential streets.

So we had a racetrack just just right right around the corner here on Park Avenue, which shouldn't surprise us.

because wherever you have things that will move fast, you'll find people who want to race them against each other.

I've ridden on both of those streets, too.

Really?

Kind of cool.

on line two, we have Elizabeth from Brighton, who's familiar with Matthew's program.

It's fabulous, she says, and would like to volunteer.

Let me, let me bring you on.

Elizabeth, welcome to connections.

Hey, hey.

Welcome.

Hello, Elizabeth.

Yeah, yeah, I actually, visited the program a number of years ago, and, I have friends who have horses.

I've been around horses?

I've never owned a horse myself, but there is a magical moment when you connect, and, around them.

And what Matthew's talking about, just the whole physically being with them and honoring their space and listening to them, it's just, there's sort of this unspeakable power that the horses have.

Definitely.

And, it's a pleasure if, if, if anybody adults and or kids can have time around them, you will not forget it.

And, the gains are, you know, momentous compared to just the work you put in.

And you just there's so much they give back.

So it's just I'm so glad the program is still going and, it sounds like it's flourishing a lot of ways, but I totally agree too, with the change of interests and, whether it's due to Covid or other things.

I work with kids during, during the, on the weekends, and I, I definitely have seen a change in pulling them back towards, the, just the simple things, I guess.

Yep.

Really important.

And your, your program does that.

you know, multiple times.

So.

So I'm just glad, but I'd love to, reconnect with you maybe.

And and maybe try to come on and volunteer.

Thank you.

We'd love to have you.

That would be excellent.

As I said, we'll have the contact information on the connections web page.

And you can always Google a horse's friend.

Exactly.

And they have a wonderful website there that will give you all the history, and the current, that there are some current activities that you're planning or executing right now with the city of Rochester and others.

We are we're working on, bridging the gap, which is, always been one of the biggest, pushes for me.

I have, since day one, I wanted to do programing with, RPD, because I think that the kids that are in the city that are there, that might have the, unfortunate, run in with the law, things could go a different way if they're given the opportunity to do something different.

So we our property, we sit on 250 acres of property.

it's rural, there's a whole lot of space to just go out and just be a kid, right?

And realize what you could be doing versus what you are doing.

and then the other part of that is connecting with law enforcement officers where they can come out and actually connect with a kid on a different, ground.

Yes.

Playing field.

Yeah.

So they're not looking at them as the gentleman walking around with the badge and the gun.

They're looking at them as a human being who might ride horses with you.

or may not.

But anyways, that's that's always been my, you know, one of the biggest pushes for me to try and connect law enforcement with kids.

I think that that is such an important aspect of what do you do the, my own grandson.

Right.

We were at the Park Avenue Festival, or was it Park Avenue?

Also the one over off of, it doesn't matter, but we were one of the things.

And, as we started to walk past a police car, he goes, oh, no, the police cops.

And I'm going, where is this coming from?

This kid hasn't had any negative interactions with with the police, nor has anybody in his family.

So why so, you know, so I took them over right to to the officer and at the time, I was working for the city of Rochester, and I didn't know this particular officer, but I could go and say, hey, I'm, I'm IT infrastructure guy.

My people support your team and, and are working in your police cars.

They're just wanting to shoot my grandson, but helping people to not to to have a different interaction.

Exactly.

With RPD is so important.

And they have to want to have that as well, right?

Right, right.

They have hard jobs.

Yeah.

And, yeah, I imagine it's sometimes difficult for them not to paint everything a certain way.

Right.

That being in fear and that kind of stuff.

So I really appreciate it.

Robin from Rochester, she has, I believe, more info on the Hawaii program.

Is Robin still there?

On line one?

No, it looks like it looks like that didn't happen.

Okay.

let's let's go back to more about your program.

Tell us more about what's going on there.

So yeah, the let's talk about bridging the gap.

So bridging the gap is a program that we're trying to put together, 15 to 20, city youth that may or may not have had, connections or interaction with law enforcement.

And at some point in time, my goal is to have law enforcement come out and work with those students.

not in a, I guess I would say any kind of a conventional.

So they would come out and possibly do stalls with, groom horses with them if they don't know how to ride, possibly learn how to ride with them so it more or less becoming a team and working together.

versus, you know, an adult who knows what they're doing, and they're teaching this kid who might not know what he's doing, they're going to work possibly together and, you know, connect the, make a relationship and then go for it.

So I think that if we can get, you know, a number of kids that will be role models for new kids in the, in the, in the city of Rochester, then maybe it can just, snowball and start to roll to get that ball rolling and it can continue on, but it has to start somewhere.

I think that, you know, there has to be a group of kids out there somewhere or a school that has a group of kids that may want to do something like that and, and help continue it, because once again, there's there's a stereotype that, you know, we don't as with the police, and has it at some point in time it has changed because I always say this, if something happens to you, you got to call 911.

And who's the one that's coming to help you?

So, obviously you you do need them.

so let's try and figure out a way to at least get our kids who are supposed to be innocent and don't have those shouldn't have those opinions are ready to work, you know, to learn how to work with a police officer and know that they can trust them.

Excellent, excellent.

So remind our listeners, where are you located?

We are located in rush, New York, 6565 East River road.

it's actually sits on the old boat, an old Boces property.

Really?

it's New York state property.

So we actually are on the same property as the Monroe County Detention Center, and I'm pretty sure industry.

but yeah, we are in rush.

It's a big, beautiful facility.

we hope to be there for where I know we're going to be there for at least ten more years.

Wow.

But we hope to be there longer.

How long have you been doing this?

This is our 21st year.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

Graduation.

A lot of hard work.

And it's a lot of horse manure.

A lot of work shovel.

A lot of horse manure.

Yeah, yeah.

but we also put a lot of we've had a lot of wonderful kids come through our program and and have actually had some, some of those kids bring their kids back to the farm.

So it's, it's coming.

I guess that would be full circle.

Right?

and so I know we've done we're doing some wonderful things, and, it's showing, how long does it take for, someone to learn how to ride?

You know, it depends on the personality.

I felt like people will come out and ask me that.

If I take a lesson, will I be able to do this or will I be able to do that?

So you can take 2 or 3 people and put them in the same room and put them in a stall, and they're going to come out an hour later and they'll be at three different levels.

So it depends on the person.

at least that's from my perspective.

we do a lot of things that are out of the box, like literally when when I first started riding, I'm like, I'm getting my horse, I'm going down on Genesee Street, and that's what we do.

So teaching our kids to be, so, so conscious about riding that they're, they're literally out of their body, and in able to focus on everything that's around them.

so it's a it takes a while.

but that's only because I'm, I teach my kids to do a whole lot more than just riding in a ring.

I want every kid that comes out to our program to to strive to be able to go back into their neighborhood on a horse, to show their friends or their family exactly what it is they do and, and have been doing.

So, and I push hard.

Talk about bragging rights.

There you go.

Right.

Bragging rights.

I'm I'm sitting on top of this thousand pound animal and it is listening to me paying attention to and obeying what I'm asking it to do.

And those are great bragging rights.

Yeah.

So how are you funded?

So, so up until three years ago, it was just private.

but we are we are 500, C3, and we do a number of different, programs, and we have started writing grants.

we do open enrollment, so kids come out, for different camps.

Their parents would pay, but for the most part, we are looking for grants or, you know, writing grants and, doing summer camps.

Excellent.

I have, a note to myself that says Grassa program and Villa of Hope.

Could you talk about each of those?

So, Villa of Hope.

I'll start with that when we've been up, doing program with.

It used to be, Saint Joseph's Villa, but now it's Villa of Hope.

We've been doing a program with them since 2000, and I'm going to say 2007. wonderful program.

it was definitely the program that I want because it was the kids that we've always wanted and we've we're still doing program with them.

they'll send out a number of kids.

it's a Tuesday program.

You might get five kids or you might get 15 kids.

and they're there for at least, ten weeks, and then they might rotate in a new group of kids.

But that's, the villa program.

And then Grassa is a four week summer camp.

that's don't run through, to the city of Rochester.

Actually.

I'm sorry, it's run through, the Rochester Area Community Foundation.

Okay.

And they allocated 30 kids, to our program the last two years.

And it was just wonderful.

The kids came out, they were bust out bus back home and, amazing group of kids.

And they did some wonderful things around horses and around the farm.

Wow.

So the Community Foundation helped fund that for you?

Definitely.

We could do that for those children.

For those kids.

What an excellent thing.

you know, connections is usually not a program that's providing advertising for folks.

But, you know, when I read excuse me when I read your, your website and, and what you were doing, and then you and I had an opportunity to talk on the phone, I just been incredibly impressed because of what what you're trying to do and what you're doing, not just trying to do what you're doing.

And the fact that you brought this out of a vision, that even stems from your childhood and development, and you were able to put all that together in a way that makes sense for making a difference in our community.

So I'm just I'm just incredibly grateful that you're doing this work.

I want to encourage people that if you have an interest in horses or an interest in providing alternatives, for, for kids in the city, I do that through music.

I'm a part of Hochstein School of Music, and we have scholarships for that.

But, you know, different kids will have different entry points for what's going to grab them and what's going to make a difference in their lives.

Right?

I mean, there's different things.

And so I'm really glad to see this aspect of, of, of trying to reach our kids, disadvantaged kids, regardless of race.

in the city.

Art, we're about to wind down.

Are there any last words you'd like to share with us?

Something I want to make sure we don't miss before we sign off.

Yeah, I just want to say that.

Yeah, people are people.

Think about horses.

And the first thing you think about is just riding them.

But with our program also, we're touching we're touching on the different careers surrounding horses that most urban kids will never learn about.

So it's not just about coming out and riding a horse.

We want them to know that they can become a farrier.

They can become a veterinarian.

They have dentists, they have chiropractors.

So there's a number of different things there that we, we are also trying to instill in kids.

Well, Matthew Dower, thank you so much, founder and executive director of A Horse's Friend.

Thank you so much for being here with us today and sharing your vision and what you've been doing.

I want to, thank the engineering team, the connections team, Rob Braden, his engineer, and Julie Williams, who are our associate producer, and Mary, who came in today just really good stuff today.

And it really makes a difference for our communities that this exist.

Remember to come back again on Monday for connections.

We'll see you then.

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