Guy Kaufman

Like a million or two other little boys the world over, Guy Kaufman dreamed of being a cowboy when he grew up.

Today, at 46, he spends his days working with horses. But he's not your typical cowboy. Guy uses horses as teaching tools to provide equine-assisted addiction therapy to troubled people of all ages on his 77-acre horse ranch just west of Brook Park, MN. It's been a long and winding trail to this point in Guy's life. He calls his place "Changing Gaits" as a symbol of his own life and the changes he hopes will take place in the lives of those who come to him for services.

Guy grew up in the Rice St. area of St. Paul, the youngest of two boys and two girls. It was, by Guy's own description, a dysfunctional family. He attended St. Bernard's grade school and high school. When he was a freshman, his parents divorced. At age 14, Guy started drinking "to medicate for the pain."

The drinking continued throughout high school, although he never got into any serious trouble. After his 1978 graduation, he worked construction, got married in 1983, had two children, and kept on drinking. He quit for five years, starting in 1989, but the addictive attitude and behaviors were still there, and he started again in 1994. Two years later, he and his wife divorced. Two years after that, after a couple of "bouts" with suicide, on August 31, 1998, Guy had what was to be his last drink.

The next day he checked in to an in-house treatment center at Fairview Riverside Hospital in Minneapolis. As he was leaving home that morning, his next-door neighbor, Joni Lensing, handed him a book. "The Message" included words from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Psalms, and Proverbs. Guy's best friend, Todd Schilling, dropped him off at the hospital and after he unpacked his things, Guy sat down, opened the book, and started reading Psalm 18.

"God came into my life right then," said Guy. "In God's eyes, when I opened up the book of my heart, I started changing."

28 days later, he left the treatment center, became an active participant in a recovery program, started attending services at Eagle Brook Church in White Bear Lake, and went back to his job with Excel Energy. In the spring of 1999, he sold his Maplewood house, and spent the summer commuting to work from a series of campgrounds where he would park his Winnebago.

"In June, I was driving into Wild River State Park to camp and I spotted Wild River Stables. I parked the camper and went back to talk to the owner, Hank Magnuson. Again, my life was changed forever. Even though I had only actually been on a horse once in my life and I was wearing shorts (plus cowboy boots and a hat) when Hank asked me if I could ride, I replied, 'Sure I can.' He put me up on Shadow, a four-year old Arab gelding. I took off racing with a guide and spent the next three hours on a scary, but incredible, ride. I had open blisters when I got down out of the saddle and I could hardly walk, but it didn't matter. The next day, I came back in jeans and rode some more. I started riding on a regular basis. Hank and I and his family became friends. They invited me to weekly Bible studies. Hank took me under his wing and literally helped me find Jesus Christ."

Guy spent the next few years living in a model home at Country Camping in Isanti, where he became caretaker, working at Excel, and riding and helping out at Wild River, where he became a guide. He grew closer to his children, Christopher, now 21, and Amanda, now 17. As he continued with his own recovery program, he started wondering if horses couldn't play some sort of positive role in other people's recoveries, much as they had in his. In the fall of 2000, Guy asked to buy Shadow - and Hank gave him the horse "for all the work you've done around here without asking for a dime."

On Dec. 26, 2003, Guy woke up feeling lousy. He noticed blood in his urine, but ignored it and went to work. A couple of hours later as he was reading meters, the pain set in. When he finally went to Cambridge Medical Center after work, he was hospitalized. On Jan. 2. 2004, 18 kidney (count 'em) stones were removed.

"Because of my addictive personality," said Guy, "I wouldn't take any pain medication. I was lying there, in this incredible pain, and asked God, 'What do you want me to do with the rest of my life?' The answer came back, 'Horses and kids, horses and kids.' I couldn't get that thought out of my head. A week later, a friend from church gave me a book called 'The Dream Giver.' I stayed up until 4:30 in the morning reading it. Again I was changed. I felt I was being called...'Go get that dream.' A week later a friend of mine told me about a recovery program in Nashville that uses horses. I was actually a little dismayed at just how fast God was moving!"

He signed up to attend the EAGALA (Equine-Assisted Growth and Learning Association) Conference in Nashville in March. On February 1, he gave notice at Excel where he had worked for 21 years, telling his boss he was going to work for God for the rest of his life. On Feb. 6, he hit black ice on his way to work and rolled his four-wheel vehicle two times, sliding down an embankment and landing in a ditch. "Lord, let me live" was his cry as he went down. He was uninjured, but the vehicle was seriously damaged. Somehow, repairs were made by March 12 and Guy left for Nashville - in a winter storm. At times, he had to drive 10 mph during the 22 1/2 hour trip, but he made it.

In Nashville, he took notes, taped, filmed, talked with everyone he could find, and watched models of therapeutic exercises using horses. Ideas began clicking on in his imagination. He began devising his own exercises with a horse, a strong, powerful intimidating animal, representing a person's drug of choice. Through verbal and non-verbal communication, personal strength and ingenuity, it would be possible to begin to control the horse, the addiction. The model for Changing Gaits was born.

Guy went through training and became certified in EAAS (Equine Assisted Addiction Service) on June 27, 2006. Two days later, another huge obstacle presented itself. The Changing Gaits dream had always involved Shadow, but when Guy and a friend went to Wild River where Shadow was stabled, they found him near death with a piece of twine wrapped around his head. His eyes bulged, blood and mucus ran from his eyes, his head was swollen, said Guy, to "hippo" size. Guy called a veterinarian and started praying. When the vet arrived an hour later, he said the horse had to be put down. Guy explained that no, that wasn't possible. He and Shadow had a mission to accomplish. He talked the vet into performing an emergency tracheotomy and sat on an upturned bucket holding a syringe tube in Shadow's throat on the hour-long drive to the veterinary clinic in Stillwater. There he was informed once again that the horse must be put down. Again, he refused. That night, he went home and prayed, promising to spend the rest of his life ministering if Shadow could only live. By morning, the horse - to the vet's shock - was eating, drinking water, and urinating. Three-quarters of the swelling was gone. But his eyes were still shut and the vet pointed out his firebrick red gums, saying they were an indication of lost brain function and motor skills. He again recommended putting the horse down. No way. 10 days later, when Shadow was right as rain, with no residual damage, and went home, the same vet told him he had never seen a worse case or a more miraculous recovery.

"Shadow is fine," said Guy, "completely recovered. So many times, I've felt like quitting...tired, broke...but he always brings me back up again."

It wasn't too long after that trauma, that Guy's friend Todd Schilling said he wanted to be a partner in locating land and building an indoor arena and house for Changing Gaits. Along with Schilling's considerable resources, Guy invested everything he had from his retirement fund. On June 4, 2005, Guy and Shadow, and two more horses, Dozer and Maggie, moved in. Christopher lives with his dad now and works in the area, and Amanda, a high school senior, comes up often. Guy has also since found the "love of my life," Sandy Schaber, from Cambridge.

Over the past year, individuals and groups from various treatment centers have participated in sessions at Changing Gaits. Children, teens, adults, and families, have come to work with the horses, work through problems. Guy connects with them all bigtime. His love for the animals, his belief that people can learn from them, touches everything. He's earning a reputation for positive results as visitors come from around the state and the country.

Financially, Changing Gaits is a newborn and far from stable. But Guy continues to network with people who are interested in supporting a new recovery method that just might make a dent in some of society's seemingly insurmountable woes. Faith has kept him going through these last few years and it's what keeps him going now.

"I've got about three bucks in my pocket right now," he smiled, "but I'm here to stay. This is where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing."

HORSE COURSE TO RECOVERY

Getting through the challenges at the Changing Gaits farm
can go a long way to mend lives broken by chemical abuse.

The name of this farm in Brook Park (MN) is Changing Gaits and the aim is to change lives. Changing Gaits uses horses as a tool to create communication and healing for people struggling with drug and alcohol addictions. The relatively new concept is run by founder Nile “Guy” Kaufman. He works diligently to get more counties to accept (Equine Assisted Addiction Services / EAAS) as a legitimate means of rehabilitation.

Kaufman said Dakota County recently got on board and they were very pleased. He would also like to get Pine, Aitkin and other counties to join the ranks. It would mean more people in need of help coming to the farm. Kaufman said he has to charge for sessions in order to keep the program going. Local churches sometimes take collections to help clients in a tight financial spot.

The horse he uses most to inspire people is Shadow, an Arabian quarter-horse cross gelding. “When I found Shadow in June of 2004, he had bailer twine wrapped around his neck,” Kaufman said. “His eyes were bulging out of his head and there was blood coming out of his nose. I knew this horse and I had a pact with God to help children and there was no way I was going to let him die.” Although two veterinarians told Kaufman the horse was too far gone, he remained convinced otherwise. “Days later Shadow came home. I tell Shadow’s story to show people not to give up,” Kaufman said.

Kaufman grew up in the middle of St. Paul and started drinking as a teen, eventually leading to his own rehab experiences. He said finding “God and horses” brought him solace. He gave up a 20-year union job in the Twin Cities area. He cashed in all his stocks and used the remaining money to buy the 75-acre farm in Brook Park.

“It’s indescribable,” Kaufman said of the change in his life. He said the horses serve as a living example of how an addiction or problem in your life can throw you for a loop. One exercise Kaufman demonstrated is called “temptation alley,” an obstacle course for the horse. In it are distractions for the horse such as grain pans or things to step over. The person with the horse is blindfolded and asked to guide it through. A person accompanies them to ensure they aren’t stepped on. When the participant goes astray, another person gives verbal prompts to help them get through the course successfully. It serves as a means of teaching people they can’t do it alone, Kaufman said.

Participants are asked to flip through a binder and pick out different trigger points which may cause them to relapse: stress, family problems, money. They place the triggers out on a course (at the distraction) and when they come to it and the horse reacts, the participant must negotiate by asking for help or finding their way of dealing with the problem, a simulation of real life, Kaufman said.

For more information about Changing Gaits and its services, call 320/679-4468 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Horses are important tool in recovery

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Horses have had many uses over the centuries but a Brook Park man is putting them to a new one locally...as a metaphor for addiction and recovery.

Guy Kaufman is no stranger to either. A recovering addict with seven years of sobriety under his belt, Kaufman knows all the standard methods of recovery but he also understands the special connection between horse and human. "Horses are real" he said during a recent tour of his indoor arena, "they really respond to our body language, and respond to it honestly. You can't lie to a horse."

Horses were an easy match for him. He'd been riding horses at Wild River Stable near Center City for years since his recovery from alcohol addiction and knew the peace he felt as he teamed up with his horse, Shadow, the healing that was taking place in his mind and body, and the connection he made with the animal.

Kaufman was formerly employed as a counselor at the Anthony Lewis Center in the Twin Cities, an adolescent treatment center but left when he decided to pursue his dream of using horses in a recovery program for addicts. "Slowly, but surely." he said of that time in his life, "the God of my understanding started bringing it all together." A meter reader with Excel Energy, he left the security of that job in 2004, making a leap of faith personally and financially and putting into motion one of his favorite sayings, "You grow the most when you're uncomfortable."

He put together a promotional video and went to a conference in Nashville, TN for the Equine Assisted Growth & Learning Association (EAGALA) where he earned Level 1 certification in equine assisted growth and learning. He has since attended a second Level I course and the Conference. "It started out as a dream." said Kaufman, looking out over the 40 acres being transformed into Changing Gaits stable," It's so hard to comprehend that eight years ago my life was such a mess."

What he wants now is for approval of a six-week pilot program for recovering addicts in Isanti, Kanabec and Pine counties. He's made the contacts from the governor's office to state legislators, to district court judges, and congressmen and strongly feels his program can triple the 20 percent success rate of other programs.

The brochure for Changing Gaits says the program specializes in: a better understanding of addictive and emotional trigger points, fosters trust and respect for oneself and others, redirects negative behavior, team and relationship building, improves self esteem, problem solving and leadership styles and non-verbal communication. The program also involves a licensed alcohol and drug counselor with the equine specialist. Rates are figured by the hour. You can call Kaufman at 320-679-4468 for more information.

Horses can make a difference, believes Kaufman, and while he may have made the biggest financial gamble of a lifetime, he's happier than he's been in years. The slogan on the back of his shirt says it all, "I'd rather be on a horse than on drugs."

How does it work?

The brochures are colorful and informative, the letters of recommendation sincere and complimentary, the program promoter, Guy Kaufman, friendly and enthusiastic, but does it work?

"Oh, yeah!" says Steve, and he should know. He's been through chemical dependency treatment eight times and is now in his ninth month of new sobriety. Although at first he didn't appear all that comfortable around the horse, Dozer, who was part of his first equine assisted addiction program experience, he gamely took the rope for the first exercise.

Leading Dozer through an obstacle course, spiked in a few places with some tasty looking hay, Steve learned he and Dozer had a few behaviors in common. Dozer balked when Steve tried to lead him away from the hay and through the obstacle course prompting the observation from Steve "that's a lot like me" His struggle to make Dozer go where he wanted him to go was a struggle that Steve later realized was a metaphor for his own struggle with addiction.

They made it to the end of the obstacle course and then Steve learned that wasn't all there was to the deal. Kaufman wanted him to do it again, with his eyes closed. The catch was that, although Steve thought he had memorized the course, Kaufman had moved some of the obstacles. Trying to maneuver back through it didn't work all that well. The exercise, he found was another metaphor, one that demonstrated how addicts tend to stay on the same path, i.e., keep maintaining certain behaviors even though circumstances have changed and they no longer work.

The next exercise was one where Chris Kaufman rode atop the horse while Steve led the animal through another obstacle course. The point was to demonstrate what happens when there is a lack of communication between the addict and his sponsor. While Chris talked Steve through the moves, Steve learned later that he wasn't much for communication. "I didn't say much, did I?" he admitted. "It seems I still wanted to do it myself and didn't want to use my "sponsor" as much as I should." Something else to work on.

The last exercise was "Temptation Alley." It seemed simple enough. Chris, still mounted on the horse, held one end of a long rope and Steve the other. As Chris walked through the center of the ring, Steve walked around the outside. But, things are never that simple here. As Steve walked around the outside of the arena he stepped around a small pile of over-turned chairs Kaufman had left in the way as well as another pile of objects a few feet past that.

As he got to the end of the exercise Kaufman called him on it. "What do you do when obstacles - meaning obstacles to recovery- get in your way?" Steve replied, "Oh. I walked around them" And, in one of those true moments of epiphany he added, "If I don't move them out of the way they'll just be there when I come through again" The obstacles in Steve's case represented the casino and his using friends. "Steve," said Kaufman, "you kick them out of the way. One swift kick for the "casino" and another for "using friends" and the way was clear both in the arena and in obstacles to Steve's recovery. "This really works," said Steve, as he ended the day's program, "I've been through treatment eight times but I've never had it explained to me this clearly." The spiritual component of the program has also been a big factor in his new sobriety, he said, something other programs were often lacking.

The morning's demonstration was over and the sun had just broken through the morning's clouds as Steve took a last look around the horse arena and said with a big grin, "This is cool!"

A Letter From Lynn Thomas, Founder of EAGALA

Dear EAGALA Members,

We are excited to let you know about an EAGALA demonstration we are doing in Washington, D.C. on Friday, October 13. This demo is phase 1 of a long term plan to establish relationships with health care and insurance administrators, professional associations, and government agencies/personnel who will assist, sponsor, endorse, and support EAGALA in the following objectives:

• Provide funding resources to support EAGALA’s mission and objectives, such as research, promotion of EAP to the mental health community/public, and supporting EAGALA programs around the world
• Establish relationships with insurance companies and mental health sources to fund EAGALA services conducted by certified members

The targeted audience for this demo includes healthcare/insurance administrators, case managers, employee assistance professionals, behavioral health practitioners, social service administrators, policy makers, representatives of various mental health professional associations, and other interested individuals.

This focus fulfills part of our 2006 Strategic Plan. With the association's focus at the larger, national level, and the ongoing hard work of our members promoting and working with local agencies, HMO's and insurance companies at the grassroots level, we are excited about the things we will be accomplishing together in providing funding and services in this powerful work.

A Thank You From Lynn Thomas, Founder of EAGALA

I want to give a tremendous thank you to EAGALA members Jean Davis and Elizabeth Siegert who initiated this event and have been putting immense amount of time in arranging it - including arranging the logistics, mailing lists, marketing, and overall organization. This wouldn't be happening without all their help and willingness to give so much of their time and talent! Also, a thank you to Sue Hahn for bringing horses and props, and Diane McKissick and the Mid-Atlantic EAGALA Networking Group who are helping spread the word and volunteering at the event. Thanks to Guy Kaufman in MN for his inspiration to focus in DC and the work he has done with promoting EAGALA work to his congressmen. And, a thanks to our EAGALA Board for their support and focusing our association in these areas. This is a full-fledged group effort which is what it will take as we work towards success in these objectives.

Thank you!