By Tracy Riggs Frontz
Photos by Tracy Riggs Frontz and Travis Frontz
Only five miles beyond the thunderous hum that originates at Barber Motorsports Park is a place of peace, serenity and life changes. The Red Barn, named after the barn on the property when first purchased, helps children and adults through equine-assisted services.
Executive Director Shannon Horsley identifies with The Red Barn’s participants, many of whom have difficulty fitting in due to their disabilities or trauma. Though Horsley doesn’t struggle with those specific issues, she understands feeling left out.
“You know how some kids are really into baseball or cheerleading or math club, and it’s their identity? I didn’t have anything and really felt that absence very deeply,” she said. “Now I get to make sure that the kids who come to the barn, that they do have that place. They do have that thing that connects them with others. It gives them an activity that they care about, that they love, something that they want to get better at and a place to go to camp during the summer—just a place to really be themselves and be completely accepted and not judged.”
Horsley didn’t grow up with horses. Her desire to help others led her to major in criminal justice in college, but during her master’s-level program, she fell in love with nonprofits while interning at a shelter for homeless women and children. There she met Joy O’Neal, founder of The Red Barn.
O’Neal found inspiration in her friend, Anita Cowart, who saw an opportunity for something good to come out of a tragedy.
In the 1960s, Cowart’s teenage daughter, Love Cowart, was killed in a car accident. She was devastated, and one day she went to a friend’s property off Bailey Road, sat by the Little Cahaba River and told God how mad she was that her daughter was gone.
“That verse came to her mind: Whatever you give up in my name, I will return to you a hundredfold (Matthew 19:29),” Horsley said about Cowart’s encounter. “She said, ‘OK, but a hundred daughters are not enough. I want a thousand. Love was so special. I want a thousand daughters.’”
Cowart knew this was God’s promise to her. She began to see it being fulfilled through the girls who grew up under her training.
Still, she knew there was more. She wanted to teach those whose lives are especially difficult.
Several decades later, Cowart and O’Neal became friends through Cowart teaching O’Neal’s children to ride. One day O’Neal asked Cowart to go with her to look at some property she might buy.
As soon as they turned onto the property, Cowart began to cry. She told O’Neal that this was the place and that O’Neal had to buy it.
It was the same land where God promised Cowart a hundredfold.
“She explained her vision was that the children would come into the little red barn on one side—broken, disabled, feeling hopeless,” Horsley said. “Then they would get washed clean, almost like a car wash. They would come out the other end with hope and a renewed sense of purpose and faith—to restore faith, hope and love. That’s why that’s our tagline. That’s what we do.”
O’Neal bought the property, and at first, it was simply a family-owned, family-run horse riding lesson facility. Then word got out, and it started growing. Currently, The Red Barn serves more than 100 children a week as well as helping veterans.
Equine-assisted programs have more than the obvious benefits. Ann Baldwin, a professor at the University of Arizona, who has a doctorate in physiology, led a study on this rarely known special relationship between horses and humans, which Horsley referenced.
“Horses and humans have a deep connection, and this is just one study showing proof of that!” Horsley said. “Numerous studies show decreases in blood pressure, cortisol levels and general signs of stress and anxiety in humans when humans work with horses.”
Their well-trained horses, certified staff and a slew of well-screened volunteers come together to serve children and adults through their various programs.
Two of those children are Chris and Isaiah Robinson, whose adoptive mother, Francis Robinson, said have many needs. Chris, who was exposed to drugs prenatally, also has cerebral palsy, stage 4 gastroesophageal reflux disease, severe scoliosis, vision issues, a blood disorder, autism spectrum disorder, major eating difficulties and was recently diagnosed with a very rare genetic disease.
Chris has benefited most through therapeutic riding.
“His core strength, because of the cerebral palsy, was really bad,” Francis said. “The horses and riding and having to sit up has strengthened that to the point where now he can swim. When he stands, you still see the curvature, but when he gets on that horse, he works to hold himself straight up. You can just tell the world is different from when he’s on the horse and off the horse.”
The horses also help with issues arising from autism. Chris can get overwhelmed easily and doesn’t like to be touched. However, he’s completely different with animals, always wanting to “love on them.” At school, he gets teased a lot, but at The Red Barn, Chris has become confident. He can follow directions better.
“It’s made a huge difference in his life,” Francis said.
Isaiah also has many medical issues, but the one helped most by The Red Barn is his speech.
Isaiah has speech dyspraxia, a disorder where there may be good motor function for speech but the brain isn’t able to control those muscles. The doctors said he would never talk.
Not only does he talk, but he also sings.
Isaiah, now 17, started horseback riding at The Red Barn and moved on to the skilled classes and job training.
“He loves it here,” Francis said. “He just smiles all the time.”
One of the “thousand girls” from God’s promise to Cowart also grew up benefitting from The Red Barn’s opportunities. Hailey Leslie was accidentally shot. She became legally blind, has mouth trauma, a traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy.
Christy Leslie, Hailey’s mother, appreciates the responsibilities Hailey is expected to accomplish. Hailey does chores, including having to “scoop poop,” as Hailey said.
She also gets shavings used for bedding in the horses’ stalls. When it’s time to ride, she goes to the tack room and gets her horse’s bin with its personalized brushes. She brushes her horse and puts up the tack after riding.
“You can ask anybody in there, she’s a completely different child from when she started to how she is now,” Christy said. “She’s not as erratic; she’s not as emotional. I like the fact that she can come here no matter of her physical or mental state, with any disability or ailment. She can come, and she can ride.”
To learn more about or to donate to The Red Barn, visit theredbarn.org.
Cpl. Anthony Clay Ward Program for Veterans
Since its inception, The Red Barn has offered free services to veterans and their children that include therapeutic horseback riding, equine-assisted learning and using the serene location for a time of socialization in a peaceful environment. Abi Ward was one of this program’s first students and began participating after her brother, Cpl. Anthony Clay Ward, who struggled with PTSD, died by suicide.
“Abi began taking horseback riding lessons, and eventually, she became a volunteer and then an intern, and now she’s still involved as an adult,” Executive Director Shannon Horsley said.
For more information or to donate to the program, visit theredbarn.org/veterans.
Tour The Red Barn
Interested in learning more? The Red Barn has scheduled open tours for anyone wanting to learn more about what they do and lay eyes on the property. To join a tour, email Grace Butler at grace@theredbarn.org, or call 205-699-8204.
Tour Dates:
Friday, Sept. 26 at 9 a.m.
Sunday, Sept. 28 at 2 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 2 at 4:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 10 at 2 p.m.
