CHARIS YOUTH RANCH HOME OF NEW LIFE THOROUGHBREDS

Charis Youth Ranch’s mission is to provide a sanctuary for kids and horses. We are a youth ranch and horse rescue which serves at-risk youth ages 5-18 in our community through Equine Assisted Learning programs.
Charis Youth Ranch has two locations in Fort Collins. One 35 acre property NW of town and one 15 acre property in SE Fort Collins. We provide youth programs at both properties.
Charis Youth Ranch is a safe haven for horses to heal and rehabilitate. We currently have 28 horses who come from all walks of life, from all over the country. Our horses are rescued from the slaughter pipeline. We have racehorses from off the track, auction horses purchased to save from the kill buyer as well as owner surrenders seeking a safe retirement.
Once the horses are in our care, we evaluate and rehabilitate them for use in our youth programs. Many horses will live their lives in sanctuary at the ranch. Occasionally, we adopt out to approved homes when there is a perfect match.
Charis Youth Ranch provides several different youth programs. The Equine Adventure Program is a summer program for children ages 5-12 to come out and experience the fun of the ranch while learning about horses.
The Triumph Youth Program is for at-risk teens ages 13-18. This is a structured program lasting 10 weeks, specifically created for teens dealing with trauma, abuse, neglect, drug abuse, abandonment, etc.
The Junior Volunteer Program is for teen girls ages 12-18 who love horses and want to learn more about horses and the ranch. They learn more intensive horsemanship, volunteerism and community outreach. This program runs periodically throughout the year as weather permits.
Our goal for the kids who participate in our programs is to know their worth and value, know they are loved.Through learning horsemanship skills, the youth garner valuable life skills such as communication, compassion, responsibility, self awareness. As they learn to interact with a 1200 pound horse, they gain self confidence and pride in accomplishment. By working with the horses, the kids also learn leadership. Horses give respect only when it is earned and trust only when one has shown him or herself to be a worthy leader.
One important and unique aspect of our program is that we share our horses' redemption stories. We tell why we rescued each horse, what his/her story is, why he/she was thrown away (if we know) and why we choose to value each one. We hope each youth will identify with the horses' stories in one way or another and know that as much as we value and love our horses no matter what their challenges or past may be, we love and value each child or youth more. Because we can demonstrate that we have loved the unloved, it opens the door for them to believe that we love them too. We believe that when a child or youth knows he or she is loved and accepted unconditionally, it lays the groundwork for them to continue to build healthy lives.

We currently provide several Equine Assisted Learning programs to at-risk youth in our community. We serve kids ages 5-18 and use our rescued horses in the programs. We have two locations now to serve youth and horses. Our second location has provided an excellent equine facility to increase horsemanship learning opportunities to kids as well as our volunteers. This new property also facilitates our ability to offer additional training and increased opportunities for our rescued horses to learn new skills and add value and purpose to their lives.
We are also able to invite the community into what we are doing and invite them to participate in horse shows and events at our facility.

Our ranch is supported by 35 volunteers who daily feed and care for our 28 horses, maintain the property and participate in leading and teaching the youth in our programs. We have 9 plus volunteers committed to conducting the Equine Adventure Program each summer which serves between 24-48 kids ages 5-12 for eight, three hour sessions in the month of June. 3 volunteers plus an outside instructor oversee the Junior Volunteer Program each summer. This program is 10 weeks long in the summer as well as during spring and fall as weather permits.

Our two facilities total 50 acres, pastures, paddocks, barns, stalls, an indoor arena and outdoor arena. One is located in the country and one is conveniently located in town for accessibility to our clients, supporters and volunteers.
We partner with Turning Point Youth and Family Development, The Matthews House, area churches and the local community to serve the youth and care for our horses. We are a similar ministry of Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch located in Bend, Oregon.

Over the last 10 years, we have rescued 50 horses and either use them in our youth programs, give them sanctuary for life or have placed them in safe, adoptive homes. We began our youth programs 10 years ago with one or two individual sessions per month and by providing quarterly clinics for The Matthews House. We provide a yearly program for The Matthews House and have provided for 6 years consecutively a 12 week summer program for Turning Point Youth and Family Development. The staff at Turning Point saw such improvement in the kids' demeanor and attitude after attending our program twice a week all summer, that they asked us to extend the program through fall, which we did.
In 2018-2019, we have settled into our second location. This location has an indoor arena, an outdoor arena, barns and pastures which will allow us to provide programs during inclement weather. We plan to grow our community outreach through this property as well as add new dimensions to our youth programs. We plan to expand our Junior Volunteer program to grow mentorship of each youth as well as teach them new communication and leadership skills as we engage our local community through sponsored horse shows, clinics and events. This will increase awareness in the community of who we are, while inviting them to participate in what we do.