Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club
Encyclopedia
The Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club is an inner-city horsemanship program in north Philadelphia, where local horsemen teach neighborhood youth to ride and care for horses while encouraging academic excellence. The unusual homegrown community program provides children and youth with positive ways to spend their leisure time outdoors. Horses serve as a draw, attracting and engaging a committed group of youth. The club is led by longtime resident Ellis Ferrill and supported by other established local horsemen and community members.
The Fletcher Street club stables are located in the Strawberry Mansion
neighborhood of north Philadelphia, on the edge of Fairmont Park. The program is part of a longstanding tradition of black urban cowboys and horsemanship in the city, dating back a century. Informal stables exist throughout North and West Philadelphia neighborhoods, on private and abandoned city land. The horses are ridden throughout the city's streets and parks, and regular races are held on an open strip of Fairmont Park called the Speedway. Experienced horsemen and youth in the area care for the horses, and the Fletcher Street club horses receive additional care from a prominent area veterinarian.
The horses are purchased at a livestock auction in New Holland, Pennsylvania, giving a second chance to horses that would likely otherwise be killed.
Efforts to formalize and grow the Fletcher Street program continue. With additional resources, the club intends to bring more formal mentoring and tutoring elements into its programs. However, it has faced significant setbacks in the past several years, particularly from the city government, which razed some of the stables and the club house, ostensibly to prepare for redevelopment of the land. Many horses had to be relocated, though a few dozen remain. Continuing financial constraints also hinder the program's ability to serve youth, though it continues to endure.
The Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club is a registered nonprofit in Pennsylvania. Friends of Fletcher Street, a supporting organization, is under the fiscal sponsorship of MAP Holistic Community Development, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. The program held a benefit event on Halloween of 2009 at the First District Plaza in Philadelphia, a collaboration between local fishermen (who also run a youth program), local churches, the urban cowboys themselves, and the local business association, Strawberry Mansion SMART Business Association.
The club has received attention from the public and the media, including NPR's This American Life
(television version) and regional equestrian magazines. It has also attracted a range of photographers and filmmakers, local and global, amateur and professional, who are interested in documenting their way of life. Martha Camarillo published a book of photographs entitled, "Fletcher Street." City residents, surprised to see horses passing through the city, regularly snap and post images on personal webpages. Also, a number of the cowboys volunteered at the Devon Horse Show
, a nationally known annual event, at which Camarillo's book was featured.
In addition to the horses in Strawberry Mansion, there are also stables located in Cobbs Creek Park and west Philadelphia
. One organized group is the Black Cowboys Association, which Philadelphia Weekly
called "a Philadelphia institution that offers kids in the city's toughest neighborhoods the chance to claim a path out of the 'hood on horseback." One other formal horsemanship program for local teenagers is Work to Ride
, based at Chamounix Equestrian Stables in Fairmount Park
.
Black urban horsemanship programs exist in major cities throughout the United States. These include Horses in the Hood in Los Angeles and the Federation of Black Cowboys in Queens in New York City, recently portrayed in a New York Times article. They were also the subject of a feature film by Ghost Robot film company, produced by Zachary Mortensen
.
Internationally, the best known related program is based in Dublin, Ireland. Like the Fletcher Street club, these urban cowboys known as Pony Kids have access to 3,000 horses (as of 1996). The horses attract and engage youth in a difficult low-income neighborhood. Britain's The Independent described "Dublin's suburban horse culture" as "a fascinating example of what happens when the poor appropriate the pleasures of the rich." They face many of the same challenges as their American counterparts, as The New York Times reported in 1996. While Philadelphia's young cowboys predate Dublin's, the urban youth in Ireland had access to 3,000 horses.
Like their Philadelphia counterparts, Dublin's urban horsemanship has also been the subject of numerous articles, books, photos, and other coverage. Two photo essay books are exclusively focused on the Dublin urban cowboys. An anthropological study of the Dublin program examined the community development program in the context of anti-poverty efforts. A television series documented the story of five pony kids selected to ride and tour the fancier equine world.
The Fletcher Street club stables are located in the Strawberry Mansion
Strawberry Mansion
Strawberry Mansion could refer to:*Historic Strawberry Mansion, historic house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania*Nannie Lee House, historic house in Melbourne, Florida - also known as the Strawberry Mansion...
neighborhood of north Philadelphia, on the edge of Fairmont Park. The program is part of a longstanding tradition of black urban cowboys and horsemanship in the city, dating back a century. Informal stables exist throughout North and West Philadelphia neighborhoods, on private and abandoned city land. The horses are ridden throughout the city's streets and parks, and regular races are held on an open strip of Fairmont Park called the Speedway. Experienced horsemen and youth in the area care for the horses, and the Fletcher Street club horses receive additional care from a prominent area veterinarian.
The horses are purchased at a livestock auction in New Holland, Pennsylvania, giving a second chance to horses that would likely otherwise be killed.
Efforts to formalize and grow the Fletcher Street program continue. With additional resources, the club intends to bring more formal mentoring and tutoring elements into its programs. However, it has faced significant setbacks in the past several years, particularly from the city government, which razed some of the stables and the club house, ostensibly to prepare for redevelopment of the land. Many horses had to be relocated, though a few dozen remain. Continuing financial constraints also hinder the program's ability to serve youth, though it continues to endure.
The Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club is a registered nonprofit in Pennsylvania. Friends of Fletcher Street, a supporting organization, is under the fiscal sponsorship of MAP Holistic Community Development, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. The program held a benefit event on Halloween of 2009 at the First District Plaza in Philadelphia, a collaboration between local fishermen (who also run a youth program), local churches, the urban cowboys themselves, and the local business association, Strawberry Mansion SMART Business Association.
The club has received attention from the public and the media, including NPR's This American Life
This American Life
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
(television version) and regional equestrian magazines. It has also attracted a range of photographers and filmmakers, local and global, amateur and professional, who are interested in documenting their way of life. Martha Camarillo published a book of photographs entitled, "Fletcher Street." City residents, surprised to see horses passing through the city, regularly snap and post images on personal webpages. Also, a number of the cowboys volunteered at the Devon Horse Show
Devon Horse Show
The Devon Horse Show, also known as The Devon Horse Show and Country Fair is an annual horse show which has been held late May through early June in Devon, Pennsylvania since 1896. ....
, a nationally known annual event, at which Camarillo's book was featured.
In addition to the horses in Strawberry Mansion, there are also stables located in Cobbs Creek Park and west Philadelphia
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the southwest, and...
. One organized group is the Black Cowboys Association, which Philadelphia Weekly
Philadelphia Weekly
Philadelphia Weekly , is an award-winning alternative newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published every Wednesday.The paper was founded in 1971 as a sister publication to the South Philadelphia Press. In 1995, the paper became Philadelphia Weekly...
called "a Philadelphia institution that offers kids in the city's toughest neighborhoods the chance to claim a path out of the 'hood on horseback." One other formal horsemanship program for local teenagers is Work to Ride
Work to Ride
Work to Ride is an American nonprofit prevention program which seeks to aid disadvantaged urban youth by offering constructive activities including horsemanship, equine sports and education...
, based at Chamounix Equestrian Stables in Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park is the municipal park system of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It consists of 63 parks, with , all overseen by the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation, successor to the Fairmount Park Commission in 2010.-Fairmount Park proper:...
.
Black urban horsemanship programs exist in major cities throughout the United States. These include Horses in the Hood in Los Angeles and the Federation of Black Cowboys in Queens in New York City, recently portrayed in a New York Times article. They were also the subject of a feature film by Ghost Robot film company, produced by Zachary Mortensen
Zachary Mortensen
Zachary Mortensen is an American producer.-Biography:Zachary Mortensen is the founder of Ghost Robot, a production and management company in New York City. In 2006 Mortensen produced the feature films "Choking Man" by iconoclastic music video director Steve Barron, which premiered at the Tribeca...
.
Internationally, the best known related program is based in Dublin, Ireland. Like the Fletcher Street club, these urban cowboys known as Pony Kids have access to 3,000 horses (as of 1996). The horses attract and engage youth in a difficult low-income neighborhood. Britain's The Independent described "Dublin's suburban horse culture" as "a fascinating example of what happens when the poor appropriate the pleasures of the rich." They face many of the same challenges as their American counterparts, as The New York Times reported in 1996. While Philadelphia's young cowboys predate Dublin's, the urban youth in Ireland had access to 3,000 horses.
Like their Philadelphia counterparts, Dublin's urban horsemanship has also been the subject of numerous articles, books, photos, and other coverage. Two photo essay books are exclusively focused on the Dublin urban cowboys. An anthropological study of the Dublin program examined the community development program in the context of anti-poverty efforts. A television series documented the story of five pony kids selected to ride and tour the fancier equine world.