Troubled kids find balance in lives on backs of horses

BOULDER — Horses have mastered the art of energetic perception, which makes them ideal partners for children and youths trying to right their troubled lives, say the founders of the Medicine Horse Program.

“Horses are incredibly powerful beings,” said Diane Kennedy, who started the program with Craig Falkman. “They have been healing for thousands of years.”

Medicine Horse, located at 6775 Arapahoe Road east of Boulder, works primarily with at-risk, adjudicated young people referred by the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, Probation Department, Social Services or the Mental Health Department. It is not, Kennedy said, a place for riding lessons nor a…