Addiction is a disease that has affected almost everyone in some capacity and the road to recovery can be a long, uphill battle with both victories and setbacks along the way.

Christian Countzler and Frank Taylor of Taylor Made Farm co-founded the Stable Recovery program to help those fighting addiction to stay sober. Stable Recovery’s mission is “to provide a safe and stable living environment for men in early recovery.”

America’s Best Racing in partnership with Stable Recovery has produced a multi-part video series hosted by Lindsay Czarniak taking viewers behind the scenes to learn about one of the true treasures of the Thoroughbred racing industry and some of the men impacted by this powerful program.

Recovering residents attend the School of Horsemanship at Taylor Made Farm and join a peer-driven therapeutic community with a focus on securing equine-related employment.

Countzler, a recovering addict himself, discusses in depth the vicious cycle of jail, treatment, and then back to the streets that often kills those battling addiction. He explains how the focus of Stable Recovery is teaching people to stay sober.

When Taylor first approached Countzler with the idea, he found it both inspiring and eye-opening.

“As he started talking about it, I thought, ‘That's it, that's the difference.’ I knew that could be something where a guy could wake up every day and feel good about what he’s doing,” Countzler said. “Addiction is a self-esteem problem for a lot of us. We wake up and we do not like what we see in the mirror.”

Edward “Boomer” Jones at School of Horsemanship at Taylor Made Farm

In a little more than two years of operation, the Stable Recovery program has 105 graduates that have reconnected with 1,600 family members, with 70% sobriety at six months and 100% sober and employed at graduation.

The first installment of the America’s Best Racing series follows the journey of Edward “Boomer” Jones, a recovering addict of 18 years who has been in and out of jail and homeless at times throughout his life.

“The last time I went to jail, I had actually prayed before I got locked up, asking God to help me find a job somewhere,” Jones said. “It just so happened the judge gave me another chance to come here to Stable Recovery. To me, that is God answering my prayers.”

This year-long program based at Taylor Made Farm in Lexington, Ky., is an immersive rehabilitation and career development program centered around the care of Thoroughbred racehorses, and it is changing lives.

“Just being around the horses, it's very peaceful, heartwarming,” Jones said. “It gives me a sense of purpose and direction in my life today.”

Learn more about the program and follow Jones’s story as he approaches graduation from the Stable Recovery program in the first installment (above, at top of story) of this America’s Best Racing series on the power of both horses and horseman in the healing process of addiction recovery.

The second installment (below) explores the recovery process for Joshua Franks, who experimented with drugs and alcohol starting at age 10 and went to prison at age 25. Franks spent 10 years incarcerated and subsequently was in and out of the prison system for several years and homeless while battling addiction. Franks joined the Stable Recovery program in 2022 and discovered accountability, purpose, and joy for life through caring for horses.

“I was tired of living the way I was living, I wanted to make it,” Franks said.