When David Silver walked past the 14 acres of unused land in inner-city Detroit, his first thought was that it would make a great location for a paddock or a cross-country course. Now the former elementary teacher who grew up eventing is close to fulfilling his vision of bringing horses to a city with one of the highest poverty rates in the U.S.
The groundbreaking on what is destined to become the largest urban equestrian center in the country took place in October 2024, and Detroit Horse Power’s new facility in the Hope Village neighborhood of Detroit is expected to open in spring of 2026.
“Detroit is a city that has lost a lot of people and a lot of industry,” said Silver, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit’s Executive Director and founder. “When I moved there in 2012, it was a real inflection point for the city.” Detroit’s population fell from more than 1.8 million in 1950 to less than 700,000 by 2013, the year in which the city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, citing debts of approximately $18-20 billion. Now as things are starting to improve in Detroit, “there's an appetite here to think creatively about how to turn a negative into a positive,” Silver said, such as renovating derelict land. “Detroit has a lot of open space where there used to be buildings, homes or other kinds of institutions that are no longer there.”
Prior to founding Detroit Horse Power, Silver was an elementary school teacher and was very interested in social emotional learning that teaches character skills such as confidence, perseverance and empathy. “Those kinds of non-cognitive abilities really make a huge impact on students being able to thrive and find success later in life,” he explained. When he thought about his own personal experiences developing such important skills, Silver kept returning to the life lessons he had learned from horses. “In hindsight, it is crystal clear that horses helped to shape the person I am today - and conversely, that kids like my students in Detroit would never have the deep and life changing opportunities that I knew horses could provide.” The combination of knowing how impactful horses could be in the lives of kids, and all the open space that needed new creative purposes sparked a life-changing idea for Silver. “I decided to leave my job as a teacher in 2014 and start the journey that became Detroit Horse Power,” he said.
Having a facility in the inner city was always the big goal, according to Silver. “It's taken 10 years to get to this point where we've broken ground, but we are proud of what we've been able to do in the meantime.” Since its launch in 2015, Detroit Horse Power has been transporting students from urban areas to barns across southeast Michigan to teach them life skills through riding and caring for horses. Through their partnership with these barns, Silver and his staff have been able to test out a curriculum that is now called PERCS Traits, which stands for perseverance, empathy, responsible risk-taking, confidence and self-control. “These are the five core skills that we focus on – essentially, it is about how horses can shape us as people,” Silver said. "We were lucky to have great partner barns that took a chance at the beginning and let me bring a whole bunch of kids into their facilities and donated the use of their space and horses.” While most of the students and their families had never been around horses before, “the response was just outright enthusiasm, especially for parents who never got these opportunities when they were growing up,” Silver said. “There was a real eagerness to make these opportunities available to their kids.”
One such former student is Le'Airra Jones, who first experienced Detroit Horse Power as a 4th grader in 2016. “I thought horses were very stinky at first!” Jones said. “But I was very keen to learn more because I'd only seen horses in petting zoos or at birthday parties. To see them in a natural setting where they lived was very exciting for me.”
Jones described herself as very timid before she went to Detroit Horse Power. “Instead of speaking up and communicating for myself, I would sit in the corner and cry. I had super big feelings that I couldn’t communicate,” she said. “Now I have the confidence to tell people how I feel and to bring my issues to someone if I'm having a problem. My confidence has grown in every aspect.” Jones, who is now 19 and a college student at Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills, Mich., said that Detroit Horse Power also kept her on the right path as a teenager. “Instead of going to parties, I would prefer to spend a nice afternoon at the barn to be around horses.”
Despite the countless successes of the past 10 years, Silver said he’s always known Detroit Horse Power’s biggest impact was going to come from making horses accessible in the inner city in a space that students can count on. “They will be able to build long-term relationships with the same horses,” he said. “Just by having this facility here, we're actually strengthening the environment that kids grow up in and building stable communities.”
Silver explained that the support of the local community and the excitement of people who live near the property aided in getting approval from the Planning and Development Department of the Detroit city government.
Mikhail Proctor, Director of Membership, DEI, & Development at US Equestrian, attended the groundbreaking for the new facility on Oct. 21 and was impressed to see the collaboration of government officials, education board supervisors, local businesses and residents.
“Seeing those groups of people come together for one common goal was just amazing. Everyone has really bought into this idea across the board,” Proctor said. “That was very heartwarming.
“This is going to turn into the city's little oasis,” said Proctor, whose father lived a few blocks away from the property when he was growing up. “You could not find a better location for this. I can imagine people in the community of all ages being able to go and spend some time with the horses and pet them, as their energy is so calming.”
When completed, the $12 million, 26,395-square-foot facility will include seven acres of paddocks, a stabling aisle with 17 stalls, an indoor arena, outdoor arena, round pen, and a 1/2-mile bridle path along the perimeter of the property. There will also be classrooms, offices and a community space where they will facilitate youth development programs.
“Currently we offer summer camps and an after-school program,” Silver said. “We will continue to offer both of those two things to a significantly expanded numbers of students - with summer camp participants going from 100 to over 500 annually. Our after-school program will grow from 40 students to 100 year-round at the new facility. We'll have access to horses any day of the week, so it's not just the number of students that will grow, but the depth of programming they can access,” he explained.
In addition, “For the first time, we're going to be able to offer field trips, which came about through a partnership with the Detroit Public School system. We expect several thousand students every year to come through the barn doors and get introduced to horses and the life lessons that the horses can teach them. I think we will open the doors for so many students to think differently about their future when they have had access to the incredible opportunities that horses provide.”
Detroit Horse Power had such a huge impact on Jones that when she graduated as a student, she returned as a summer camp counsellor and was recently promoted to program associate. Her years of experience there have given her empathy for the new students, especially those who are nervous at first. “I merge my brain with the younger kids and try to just reflect back and forth on how I was as a student and try to incorporate that into our lessons.”
Jones said that the biggest impact Detroit Horse Power has had on her is providing a sense of family. “A lot of people say your blood family is who your family is, but I personally think you can choose your family, and I think that Detroit Horse Power has definitely given me that,” she said. “They've given me so many opportunities, different resources, people to talk to ... it's changed my life in so many different ways.”
“There are really high rates of poverty in this city, so we concentrate on serving the students with the greatest need,” Silver said. “We have different enrollment forms that help us understand different family situations, and we try to get students that will receive the most benefit from participating with Detroit Horse Power.”
Along with groundwork – reflecting on experiences with horses and talking about how they help develop PERCS traits - and riding, the new facility will offer academic support and help with homework. Students will also have the opportunity to learn how to care for horses, such as feeding, bathing, stall cleaning and turn outs.
“We can't wait for students to really have ownership and responsibility for the management of the barn,” Silver said. “We have a lot of talented staff members, but students will really be running the program in many ways.”
Detroit Horse Power doesn’t own any horses at this time, but will have a stable of 17 horses when at full capacity. “Our current expectation is that they will be donated,” Silver said. “There will be a defined selection criteria for soundness, age, and temperament, knowing that predominantly they will be working with beginner equestrians. While our most advanced students will be ready to work with horses that have had challenges on their journey and be a part of their growth and recovery.”
Detroit Horse Power is one of the organizations within US Equestrian’s Community Outreach Program, they have also been the recipient of two grants from the USEF Opportunity Fund, with each grant being utilized toward the building of their new facility.
About the USEF Community Outreach Program
The USEF Community Outreach Program includes a directory of organizations that provide equine-based learning opportunities and support the positive impact horses can have within their local communities. Organizations must apply and be accepted for inclusion in the USEF Community Outreach Program. These organizations must meet certain standards of horse and human welfare, including USEF Safe Sport requirements and abiding by the USEF Non-Discrimination Policy, as well as offering their services for free or on a sliding scale of fees based on financial need, and more, before being recognized through this program. To learn more, visit www.usef.org/opportunity.