Southwest Philadelphia has one of the highest crime rates in the entire country, so you don’t expect to see youth riding and keeping horses on the inner city streets.
A decade ago, Malik Divers opened a stable to help urban kids stay out of trouble.
“It gave me something to do, something to keep the kids busy with; keep them occupied from running the streets and getting in trouble,” he told Great Big Story.
The hope is that choosing to care for and ride these animals will provide an alternative to skipping school, drug use, gang violence, and worse.
Divers lends kids horses, teaches them to ride, and then lets them offer those in the community $5 horse rides.
Who knows. Maybe one day, one of these kids will go on to win the Kentucky Derby.
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