Taylor Made School of Horsemanship

From the outside looking in, Jaron Kohari had an idyllic childhood growing up in Belfry, Kentucky. Raised by his mother and step-father, alongside two half-brothers, Kohari found his place in the world of sports as he played basketball, baseball and football. Though he maintained good grades, participated in plenty of extracurricular activities and even won two state championships at Belfry High School, Kohari was plagued with an underlying darkness in the form of manic-depressive bipolar disorder. Always looking to quell the constant turmoil in his mind, he found the solution...

Josh Bryan, the former program coordinator for the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship who was currently serving as assistant to Frank Taylor, the Director of New Business Development at Taylor Made Farm, died Tuesday morning from complications from jaw surgery. He was 33 years old. Bryan was born with Goldenhar syndrome, a rare congenital defect that affects the development of the ear, nose, soft palate, lip and mandible usually on one side of the body. He had his first corrective surgery when he was just seven weeks old and went...

To honor Frank Taylor's Special Eclipse Award, Fasig-Tipton issued a $25,000 matching grant to benefit Taylor's Stable Recovery program, the sales company announced Friday morning. Shortly after the grant was announced, Craig Bernick informed Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning that the Lavin Family Foundation would match the gift, raising the challenge grant's total to $50,000. Taylor will receive a special Eclipse Award at the Eclipse Award ceremony Thursday, Jan. 23, for the work he has done in building Stable Recovery and the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship, two programs that work...

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) will honor Frank Taylor and the Stable Recovery Program with the Special Eclipse Award for service to the Thoroughbred industry at the Resolute Racing 54th Annual Eclipse Awards Dinner and Ceremony at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida on Thursday, Jan. 23, according to a press release from the NTRA on Thursday. Taylor, along with Stable Recovery CEO Christian Countzler, is the driving force behind that organization and the Taylor Made School of...

Just a few years into its existence and Stable Recovery-the innovative program that helps people recover from addiction and continues to support them through their recovery with jobs in the racing industry-is flying. The organization recently published statistics that show that hundreds have been through the program who have sustained their sobriety between 30 and 90 days, that they have conducted over 56,000 AA meetings, and that their graduates had found full-time work in 13 different Kentucky farms and businesses. The program's success is clear to see in those numbers,...

It was hard to see Minaret Station (Instilled Regard) winning the GII Castle and Key Bourbon Stakes last week at Keeneland. He was 38-1 and coming off a narrow win in a maiden at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Yet, he beat his rivals that day, punching his ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. But that was only one part of this story, one that is about being on the bottom, digging your way out of trouble and then thriving. For trainer Will Walden, this will be his first Breeders' Cup...

It was during the moments after Billy Major came face-to-face with death, and momentarily lost the battle, that he knew something needed to change. On November 14, 2022, as he awoke on the floor of a motel room after overdosing on heroin, Major felt the hand of God rest upon his shoulder. And this time, he reached over to take it. "I woke up laying on the floor in front of my refrigerator. I saw people sitting on the bed, some of my friends, and there was a gentleman with...

Frank Taylor, the director of new business and development for Taylor Made, knew that there was an acute labor shortage in Kentucky, with farms unable to find reliable help. But Taylor thought he had a solution. Identify those who were struggling with substance abuse problems, put them into a recovery program and, when they are ready, teach them horsemanship skills that can make them candidates for jobs throughout the industry. Thus, Taylor created Stable Recovery, a rehabilitation program, and the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship. What he didn't know at...

It's an achievement in itself to take something from idea to unqualified success in three years, putting aside the fact that the idea in question is changing hundreds of lives, reuniting families and restoring purpose to people. But Frank Taylor's Stable Recovery--a path back to life for recovering addicts--has done just that. Stable Recovery, which Taylor started with the group's current Director of Addiction Recovery Christian Countzler, is at once halfway house and vocational rehab, providing a 12-step program, meaningful employment, and a new workforce source for the Thoroughbred industry....

It wasn't that long ago that Will Walden, recovering from substance addiction, was working the morning shift at Wendy's, walking a mile and a half, sometimes in the snow, to get to a job where his duties included scraping old ketchup packets off of the concrete in the parking lot. "I got to a place that I'm not proud of. I was at the end of my rope. I was broken," Walden said. But his time at Wendy's, as humbling as it may have been, was an important step. He...