Learners

RYAN DUNN: Being here in the wilderness, out in the middle of nowhere, was better than the alternative, which was serving nine to 12 months in a state facility.

I was just anxious because they kind of kept me in the dark about it.

I didn't really know what was going on.

White mountains, then you have the red rock, which makes the mountains look orange, harsh place to live.

Man, what did I do?

How did I get myself here?

I wanted to drop out.

Believe me, I hated school.

The only thing good about school is an easy place to sell drugs.

Opiates took me to some bad places.

Money was a big problem for me because opiates are expensive and the only way to support my habit was to steal money.

Getting arrested, detention center, rehab and now here.

This program in Utah is completely different from where I've been.

The thing that kept me through was the landscape, to be honest.

It's nice to be outside and stuff, rather than in a cage practically, where you can't even see the sunlight.

Ryan's attitude towards us when he first came here was a bit abrasive.

But now he's getting some finesse to him and a little bit more humility.

I supervise the students from the ground up.

I teach them how to halter their horses, saddling, through the processes of learning to ride.

They're doing a lot of very physical work on the ranch.

They're working on their schooling as well as dealing with their therapists.

Horsemanship takes on a very different feeling, now they're in control of a thousand-pound animal.

RYAN: They try to match your horse with your personalit and I got this short, fat, stubborn horse and I was like, "Are you serious?

This is my horse?"

Horses can bring out all sorts of emotions that you don't like about yourself.

Say you have anger issues, the horses will find that.

You can try to hide it, but a horse will bring it out.

And then you have to deal with the fact that you just saw what you were made of.

RYAN: I love him now, but before he was just a stubborn horse that just wouldn't listen to me, didn't respect me at all and I guess that's really an allusion to what I am.

I'm just a stubborn horse that won't listen to anybody, you know.

(bell ringing) I really wouldn't have been finishing high school if it wasn't for this place 'cause I would have dropped out.

And now I can actually graduate and have another chance, you know?

I still don't really like school.

I mean I'd much rather be out in the outdoors but I can respect school more, because I get to do assignments that are relevant to our lives.

(pigs snorting) I want to become a cowboy.

I want to go ride horses the rest of my life.

I want to run irrigation systems, I want to run combines, I want to work on a farm and make a good, honest living doing hard work.

I wanted to work on a ranch that was right in town in Escalante, but I found out I'm on probation until I'm 21, because of my choices that I've made in the past.

I just have to look on the bright side.

Most likely I'm going to graduate soon, and it gives me a chance to work on my sobriety.

It's going to be a challenge but if I can overcome that, I mean can overcome anything.