Transcript for the Piece Audio version of At-risk Native American teens in Colorado

Script:

At a sprawling ranch high up in the mountainous Roaring Fork Valley, five teenage girls jump out the back of a beat up red Ford truck. They scatter to feed about half a dozen horses standing behind wire fences. Patricia Robins and Jada Peabody can't resist hopping over to give the one-month-old colt they call Baby Boy a good scratch.
(16 sec)

Ambi #1: Patricia says, "Awww" he?s just cute." scratching sounds. "Look his mane got bigger. It was like this little. (laughs). Fade ambi under next track.

Taking care of the horses isn?t always so fun. Things get hectic when one escapes.
(6 sec)

Ambi #2: Scene of horse escaping: Sound of girls yelling. Gate chain clanks. Horse runs by. Horses neigh.

But chaos is nothing new to these girls. They're all here at Ranch Good Days to deal with trauma they've suffered such as abuse, drug addiction or losing their families.

Jada Peabody is Ute Mountain Ute from Colorado?s Towaoc reservation. Her parents died when she was three. Peabody says she'd likely be in jail if she was back home.
(19 sec)

PEABODY (8 sec): MY AUNTIE CARLA DIDN'T WANT ME IN DETENTION SO SHE SENT ME UP HERE. HER AND MY UNCLE GREG SAID I WOULDN'T GET ANYWHERE SITTING BEHIND BARS.

Now Peabody goes to places like horse shows - something she never thought she?d do.
(5 sec)

PEABODY (14 sec): WHEN I CAME UP HERE I WAS LIKE I DON'T KNOW IF I LIKE THIS. EVERYTHING WOULD GET TO ME LIKE THE SMELLS. I WAS LIKE FORGET THIS. I CAN?T WORK WITH HORSES. THEN IT STARTED GETTING FUN TAKING CARE OF THEM.

Peabody's relationship with horses is part of equine therapy. When Donna Otabachian started Ranch Good Days last year, she found that therapists who used horses could get her guarded girls to open up.
(12 sec)

OTABACHIAN (38 sec): I HAD A YOUNG GIRL, A VICTIM OF SEXUAL ABUSE. AND ALL THE INSTRUCTOR SUGGESTED SHE DO IS LEAN ON THE HORSE TO PUSH THE HORSE OVER ONE STEP. AND THE GIRL PUT HER HANDS ON THE BARREL AND THEN BROKE DOWN. AND THE INSTRUCTOR ASKED WHY IS IT MAKING YOU BREAK DOWN? BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE THE POWER TO PUSH THE HORSE ONE STEP. THAT STARTED A WHOLE SEGMENT OF HER HEALING, THE BEING POWERLESS UNDER SEXUAL ABUSE.

The ranch is open to girls of all backgrounds, but Otabachian believes the horses are especially healing for Ute girls.
(7 sec)

OTABACHIAN (11 sec): THE UTES WERE VERY MUCH HORSEMAN, SO WE?RE INCORPORATING HORSE KNOWLEDGE AND MEDICINE WHEEL TRAINING. WE?RE WORKING ON BRINGING CULTURAL AWARENESS TO INDIAN CHILDREN, ESPECIALLY UTE INDIAN DESCENT.

Parole officer Bonnie Cady has worked with at-risk youth in Colorado for almost thirty years. She says the state's one-size fits all services don't work with most Native teens.
(18 sec)

CADY (17 sec): THEY TEND TO BE KIND OF SQUARE PEGS INTO ROUND HOLES. I DO THINK THAT WITH SOME OF THE GIRLS WHEN THEY BEGIN TO EXPERIENCE SOME OF THEIR OWN CULTURE THEY BECOME MORE INTERESTED IN WANTING TO STUDY IT AND IT SEEMS TO MOTIVATE THEM IN EDUCATION.

Cady says Ranch Good Days is making positive strides with its culturally sensitive approach and equine assisted therapy. But she says isolating at-risk girls can also have unintended negative effects.
(12 sec)

CADY (13 sec): TO REMOVE THEM FROM THEIR FAMILIES AND PUT THEM MANY MILES AWAY CONTRIBUTES TO LONELINESS AND THEY TEND TO HAVE MENTAL DETERIORATION OR DECOMPENSATION.

But in Peabody's case, she says leaving home was the best thing.
(4 sec)

PEABODY (21 sec): WHEN I CAME HERE MY UNCLE PASSED AWAY, MY FRIEND KESMIN GOT SHOT, ALL KINDS OF STUFF WITH MY MOM WAS HAPPENING. I JUST WANTED TO FORGET ABOUT IT ALL. SO EVERYBODY UP HERE KEPT TELLING ME IN ORDER FOR ME TO LET EVERYTHING GO I HAD TO WORK THROUGH IT. SO NOBODY LET ME GET AWAY FROM MY PROBLEMS. EVERYBODY HELPED ME WORK THROUGH THEM.

That even includes the horses. Well, sometimes.
(4 sec)

Ambi #3: Peabody says, "Don't bite me please. I know you have teeth now. Laughs. Ow. That's it, I?m out of here."

Peabody will stay at the ranch until September. Before then, Ranch Good Days director, Donna Otabachian hopes the Southern Ute tribe will help her expand the ranch to accommodate 40 girls on the waiting list. Right now she can only help about 6 girls at a time.

For Native Voice, I'm Charla Bear
(16 sec)

For Next Generation Radio, I?m Charla Bear

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