Every horse in the barn arrives with a sad story, and the riders and groomers do, too.

Jayme Alexander had a hunch they could help each other, and she was right. Since she opened her small ranch to "misfits" several years ago, she's seen a dramatic improvement in the personalities of her horses and the troubled teens who are sent to help care for them.

"They just shine — it's a perfect fit," she says, making the rounds in the stables to hand out veggie treats to Taffy, Buck, Sugar and more than a dozen other horses and ponies.

"I'm not a counselor or a behavioral expert. I'm a horse lover. But it's obvious that the connection these kids make with the horses has made a huge difference. You can see a calmness in them that wasn't there before."

Alexander, 37, of West Valley City, has been infatuated by horses ever since she rode for the first time to earn a patch for her Brownie sash when she was 7 years old.

Nine years ago, when she learned there was some horse property for sale in a quiet neighborhood tucked off Redwood Road, she jumped to buy it. Before long, she had a stable full of horses, rescued from animal shelters and farms throughout Utah.

"Some of the horses were starving, down to skin and bones," she says, "and some were disabled and abandoned. Rescuing unwanted horses became my new passion. I told myself, 'I need to figure out something good to do with all of them.' "

Three years ago, she found her answer. Alexander decided to team up with Valley Mental Health and teach at-risk kids to ride and care for horses with dismal histories of their own.

Eager to share the success of the program, she recently joined me for a mid-morning Free Lunch of blueberry muffins and orange juice at the five-acre ranch she named "The Stable Place."

"All of these kids have been in trouble," she says, "and some are down to their last chance to turn around. For some, it's the first time in a long time that they've had to care about something else. They come here and at first, they might fail miserably. But they keep at it, and after a few more tries, they're riding and laughing, bonding with the horse."

It's an amazing thing, says Alexander, to witness a tough-talking gangster learn to speak softly to his horse and show a gentle side. "Their personal stories don't matter — it just comes down a horse and the teenager," she says.

"When I get a new horse, I tell the kids, 'This is a horse with a past, but no future. We're going to teach it some skills and give it a place to grow.' That's all they need to hear. They identify with the horse right from the start."

With counselors impressed by the program's results, Alexander plans to expand lessons this fall to include youths from a drug and alcohol treatment center. She also recently started a therapy program for children with autism and other disabilities, and she leases her horses to adults who have always dreamed of learning to ride.

"These horses offer something for everyone," she says as a Clydesdale named Sam trots over for a nuzzle. "They've been through a lot, just like the kids who come here. But they're resilient and forgiving. They know that this is a safe place where they can heal."

For more information, go to thestableplaceslc.com.

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