Aspen Ranch Success Story

An Aspen Ranch Success Story Makes News

A Pennsylvania teen recently made headlines in her local newspaper, The Morning Call, for her tremendous success at Aspen Ranch. After spending four months homebound recuperating from back surgery in the eighth grade, Lee Gentner was depressed. With her moodiness and depression continuing into her sophomore year of high school, Lee's parents knew it was time to get help.

"My whole family was out of whack," Lee told Morning Call writer Robert Orenstein. "I had bad depression. ... Something had to give."

Lee's mother, Kathy, looked for programs that allowed family participation in treatment in their home state of Pennsylvania, but after coming up empty, she turned to Aspen Ranch. Kathy was drawn to the Utah ranch because of its work with troubled teens and horses, and the fact that parents can visit their children and join them in counseling and other trust-building activities every six weeks.

At the ranch, Lee's days were packed with activities, therapy, classes, and most importantly to her, equine therapy. She saw her own stubbornness and impatience mirrored in the horses and, despite her frustration, learned to break in and ride them. Because horses sense and react to the moods of people near them, Lee says she had to learn "how to make [her]self calm, to work on relationships."

The first time Lee was finally able to get on the horse, she said "I was really excited. It was bliss."

During her stay at Aspen Ranch, Lee developed a powerful bond with one horse in particular - a horse she named Picante Poco, which is Spanish for a little spicy, because she says it fits the foal's personality. Breaking him in required endless patience and commitment, but her hard work paid off.

In September 2007, Lee graduated from Aspen Ranch and returned home. For a high school graduation present, her parents surprised her by purchasing 2-year-old Picante Poco and making him her very own.

Kathy Gentner said the program worked. "It healed our family."

To read more about Lee Gentner's story and her experience at Aspen Ranch, please visit http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_2horse.6670507nov15,0,543801.story.