Before Josh Peters entered the Stable Recovery program, nothing was going right with a life that had been overtaken by addiction.“Before I came to Stable Recovery, my wife, my family, and my two kids, they didn't want to have anything to do with me at all,” Peters said. “With the program, that's all changed. It's just a blessing, it really is.”Founded by Christian Countzler and Frank Taylor, Stable Recovery is a recovery program meant to help individuals overcome addiction, stay sober, and rebuild their lives and purpose. Those in the program go through rehab and enter the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship, where they are taught skills that can lead to getting jobs in the racing industry. Their success stories are numerous, with many graduates, like Peters, saying that the program and finding employment turned their lives around.With many farms and stables eager to get involved with the program and looking for additions to the workforce in a sport that has had a shortage of available help, Stable Recovery continues to benefit both the industry and its graduates.The list of participants now includes Keeneland. But the racetrack and sales company has taken things in a new direction. While the Stable Recovery graduates might work with horses around sales time and during the two race meets, the majority of their work involves maintenance tasks. Upon being hired by Keeneland, Peters was added to the track's maintenance staff.“We wanted to work with Stable Recovery from early on because we felt so passionately about the work that they were doing,” said Kara Heissenbuttel, Keeneland's senior director of community relations. “But Keeneland is unique in that we are this epicenter for horses, yet we don't own our own horses. So we were trying to figure out how that would translate from the work that they were doing at Stable Recovery to what we do here. In fact, not all of the guys want to work directly with horses. The horses are so therapeutic, so I feel like they're crucial during that time of recovery. For a lot of them, that's not necessarily their life's work. So by working on our maintenance team, it opens up the door for opportunities where they can learn skills and move into different roles within that team.“They get welcomed in by the maintenance team that they're working with and they build this confidence in themselves. You can tell that it feels like such a turning point for them when they're going through recovery and just trying to rebuild. Having a job and an opportunity at Keeneland feels like, to them, 'wow, this is a turning point. We've made it.'”Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy has seen firsthand the recuperative powers that can come with someone staying sober and having steady work. He has also seen what having a reliable pool of labor in the Stable Recovery workers has done for Keeneland.“It's a wonderful organization, saving people and saving lives,” Lacy said. “Another angle is that this is very intriguing to us because we are giving people a set of skills–life skills that give them a pathway forward. One of our major challenges is the shortage of labor, skilled labor and reliable labor. So this also sort of fits into the program. Keeneland, even though we're a racetrack and a sales company, we do have a huge amount of demand in our facilities sector.”Keeneland has hired eight people out of the Stable Recovery program and has provided them with free housing on the grounds. All eight live under the same roof, along with a sponsor.Lacy expects there will be turnover, in part because he sees many of the individuals thriving and ready to move on to jobs that might be a better fit for their specialties.“This is a work in progress,” Lacy said. “We don't want to let anybody go that is enjoying it and is part of the Keeneland team. Keeneland's a place with a very low attrition rate. But sometimes people want to go on and try something different and want to grow. And if that is the path forward for them, we would obviously encourage that and support it as long as we know that the Stable Recovery infrastructure would be there to support them and make sure they maintain the sobriety and the controls that are so important to make sure that they maintain a path forward. They can fit in here and learn a skill and become a part of a larger team of a very supportive group of people. And maybe in time, they can have a future outside of our environment as well.”As for Peters, his life has settled down and he's happy with his job. He's not planning on going anywhere.“I was a lost, hopeless person,” he said. “I really was. I really didn't know which way to turn. And then I got a hold of Christian and he let me into this program. And little by little, day by day, everything started getting better. Well, to be honest with you, all of my bosses here at Keeneland have asked me what I was going to do after I graduate from the program. And my answer to them was, 'I'm going to stay here at Keeneland.' I mean, it's a good job. It really is. The management, as far as that goes, you couldn't ask for better people to work for. They treat me just like one of their own.”The post Keeneland’s Partnership With Stable Recovery Has Been A Win-Win For All Involved appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.