By Michael Copley, Staff Writer

Tamio Holmes has 17 months left to serve for cocaine distribution. This isn’t the first time he’s been to prison, but he said it is the first time that he’s found something on the inside —  something positive — that will keep him from going back.

Holmes was selected two years ago for the Greener Pastures program at the James River Work Center in Goochland. Greener Pastures is a branch of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation that rescues retired race horses and when need, rehabilitates them for adoption.

In most cases volunteers give the horses the care they need. But at the Goochland facility, the Department of Corrections has partnered with TRF and prisoners work with the horses; it’s a study in mutual rehabilitation, a program that serves the horses as much as it does the men who care for them.

“This is something, in the midst of prison life, for them to look forward to, to take pride in and care about,” said Brandy Nixon, the institutional coordinator at Greener Pastures.

Nixon works with the inmates directly and screens applicants for the six-month work program.

She said she’s “picky about who I bring into the program.” Inmates selected to participate “get a lot of perks,” but she said they earn it.

“They work hard and do a great job caring for the horses. None of them have taken this for granted. They take their time and they do things right.”

The inmates learn skills that give them the chance to get a job at a private barn or a race track when they are released from prison.

In July the prisoners toured Colonial Downs.

It was “a chance to see what is out there for them professionally,” Nixon said, “to see what they can do.”

Holmes wants to be a blacksmith when he gets out- he started making horseshoes in the barn at the prison and work-program staff say he’s a natural- and he said he hopes to buy property in Powhatan or Goochland to “set up a farm with five or six horses.” 

“I don’t settle doing average work,” he said.

Dr Reid McClellan, executive director of The Elite Program, Inc., teaches inmates to work with horses using the Groom Elite Program.

“There’s a big industry out there for horse professionals. There are opportunities in training and showing horses, it’s not just racing.”

photo by Michael Copley
Inmate Eric McMillan helped load his horse Bully Billy in July. The horse was adopted and now lives on a farm just miles from the Goochland facility. Nixon said McMillan asked to be excused from class the day the hosre was loaded. “He said he just needed a minute to say goodbye.”

How to Help

Second Chances and the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation rely on donations from the public. If you’d like to help, contact Brandy Nixon at 784-3551 or send donations to:
Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation
James River Chapter
Post Office Box 112
Crozier, Va. 23039

Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation Third Annual Barn Tour on September 20, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ticket price is $25 and includes admission to nine private barns. Purchase tickets in adavnce at http://www.jamesriverhorses.org

He said the inmates’ instructional time is a combination of three classes that starts with an introduction to horses and culminates in a study of equine behavior, safety, anatomy and the treatment of injuries.

“These guys learn more than just working with horses,” said McClellan. “They learn about communicating with horses, about releasing pressure as a way to communicate.” And he said that awareness improves inmates’ human relationships.

The inmates work in the barn from 7:30 a.m. until mid afternoon, mucking stalls, feeding and grooming the horses and cutting the grass in the fields around the barn.

There are 10 inmates in the program now and each cares for two of the 17 horses in the facility. Holmes is a certified Groom Elite graduate and he now works as a teaching assistant.

He walked out of the barn and motioning up the hill towards the fences of the detention center, he said he’s relieved to have something separate from life in the prison.

“This program means a whole lot, they need to spread it all over Virginia. I wouldn’t trade the chance to work here for anything,” he said, “its mind freeing.”

“This is chance for them [inmates] to relate to something and be responsible for something outside of themselves,” Nixon said. “It’s amazing to see the gleam in their eyes.”

Holmes stood by a fence behind the barn at noon eyeing the horse in front of him. The sun was up high over the fields and the conversation was back to the horseshoes he makes and his plans for the future.

“I’m going make a go of it,” he said.