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By Jillian Ogawa

HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

HOPE - When teenager Katrina has a frustrating day, she turns here -- to the green Eastern Kentucky hills dotted with fall foliage -- to find hope.

Three Kentucky Mountain horses -- Thunder, Comanche, and Jeremiah -- roam the hills near Hope Hill Children's Home, which started out as an orphanage but three years ago started to serve at-risk girls who are 12 to 18 years old. The home houses as many as 40 girls who deal with issues including anger management and sexual abuse.

Katrina, a resident, is among the six girls who participate in an equine therapy program three times a week.

"Say I have a frustrating day ... I'm talking to him about everything," Katrina said, referring to her horse. "By the time I'm out of the barn, I feel so much better."

The center did not release the last names of the participants.

Another participant, Ashleigh, 16, agreed. "Being with horses is one of my passions," she said. "If I could, I would spend my whole day out in the barn."

Alison Chambers, who facilitates the program, said it focuses on basic care for horses, including leading and grooming. The girls do not ride the horses.

While tending the horses, the girls learn life lessons including responsibility, Chambers said.

At one of the sessions, Katrina shook a can of food to coax Thunder from the maze of trees and into the barn. She started grooming the black-and-white horse, standing on tiptoe to reach the wither, the base of the back of the neck, which on Thunder is 15 hands and 2 inches high, or 5 feet, 2 inches. Thunder's ears moved toward Katrina's voice as she brushed his hair and cleaned his hooves.

"Talking makes the horse comfortable," said Katrina, who has been in the program for about a year. "They know you are there. It relaxes me a lot; it's like your best friend and you're talking to him the whole time."

Katrina applies the lessons she learns from working with horses to her relationships with people, said Susan Orme, a program supervisor, who works with Katrina.

Chambers recalled a time when when Katrina tried to stop a horse from walking too fast. Katrina yelled at the horse to stop, but that made him back away from her, she said. The experience was symbolic of some situations Katrina had been in, Chambers said.

"In pulling back from her, she realized she broke that trust" with the horse, Chambers said. Katrina "doesn't like when people are loud with her."

Through the program, Katrina said, she has learned to trust others and build relationships. The change has inspired her to mentor other girls in the program.

"It might change somebody's life," Katrina said.