At the Cobb jail, a new kind of rehabilitation starts at the horse barn
Since his mid-20s, Joshua Arp’s life has been marked by a revolving door of incarceration.
It started with him falling in with the wrong crowd, he said, and then the cycle became one he couldn’t escape.
The 35-year-old was most recently arrested in February on charges of fleeing and eluding, and was booked into the Cobb County jail. When the cell door closed behind him this time, he said it finally hit him that he needed to do something different.
“Every good thing I’ve had in my life, I pushed away,” Arp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week. “I guess I’ve hurt everybody that’s ever loved me. I’ve got to change that.”
This time, as he waits for a court to decide his fate, his detention looks different. Three days a week, Arp is driven about 14 miles from the Cobb jail to Violet F. Stout Park in Powder Springs, where he assists the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office’s Mounted Patrol Unit and cares for their draft horses.
He’s clearly marked as a detainee, sporting a cream-and-blue, two-piece uniform. But at the barn, the setting shifts. He trades his standard jail footwear for black rain boots, isn’t restricted by handcuffs and interacts with the deputies, staff and horses like anyone else.
He was one of two chosen to take part in the sheriff’s office’s new detainee equine therapy work release program. Though detainees do not work with licensed therapists during the program, research suggests that simply being around horses can improve mental well-being and emotional regulation.
As Arp stood along the pasture fence line last week petting one of the horses, his guarded demeanor faded. A crooked smile tugged at his face as the gelding leaned in, allowing Arp to cradle his muzzle.
Maj. Tony Scipio, who supervises the program, said the goal is for Arp and Randall Hembree, the second detainee chosen, to gain practical and interpersonal skills to help them stay out of jail.
“We’re hoping that they learn patience. They learn a way to communicate, verbal and nonverbal. That they learn to have passion about what they do — what they do every day — so they learn that routine. And we’re hoping that it will turn into employable skills, instruction and self-awareness,” Scipio said.
Arp and Hembree, who was in court for his felony drug trafficking charge when the AJC visited the barn, are about three months into the gig. They both take guidance from stable master Abigail Jordan, who started training the mounted patrol with its inception in 2021.
The program was offered only to low-risk detainees, those unlikely to attempt escape or commit another crime, Scipio said. A list of about 16 candidates was narrowed to Arp and Hembree.
Scipio and Jordan said a lengthy interview process revealed something genuine in both men.
“I personally liked these guys because I could tell they were answering honestly, even with stuff they didn’t know,” Jordan explained. “Equestrians don’t really do that; they like to impress people. I don’t want horse people in my barn who are going to lie to me about what they do and don’t know. It’s a liability for me.”
When Jordan was hired by the sheriff’s office to train the first two horses, Duke and Diesel, she never imagined she would also work with detainees. But as an equestrian, she’s been a proponent of equine therapies, such as equine-assisted psychotherapy and hippotherapy, that support mental well-being and physical development.
She explained the extra hands have been invaluable, especially now with seven horses to care for, but it’s been even more rewarding to watch Arp and Hembree rebuild confidence and purpose. She said she’s been impressed with how eager they have been to learn and how quickly they’ve picked up new skills.
From 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. while Arp is at the stables, he said he has his horse care routine down. Every day starts with a team meeting to plan which horses and deputies are heading into the county to work. Then, Arp is off to clean stalls, feed, groom and walk the horses out to the pasture and help Jordan set up obstacles for training exercises.
On a regular day, the Mounted Patrol Unit might ride through a park, much like an officer patrols a neighborhood. But they also might be deployed to other events, such as ceremonies, officer funerals, protests and sporting events. Next year, the unit will be working the FIFA World Cup alongside Atlanta police.
And when the horses return to the barn from their shifts, Arp takes the initiative, responding to deputies’ requests with a quick “yes, ma’am” or “yes, sir.” He eases each horse from the trailer, rinses away sweat and dust, and thoroughly checks their hooves for rocks and injuries.
Jordan said Arp went from learning how to groom the horses in one week to asking about hoof care, horse health and training. He often watches the deputies practice maneuvers and crowd control and has taken a keen interest in learning horsemanship terms, she said.
Scipio said Arp fit right in — and the horses seemed to sense it, too. His favorite horse has since become Diesel, a gray draft who towers over just about everyone at the barn.
“I like being hands-on with the horses. (Grooming is) my favorite part,” Arp said. There are no plans to have detainees ride the horses.
He had no experience caring for horses, but he said he used to help his uncle on a cattle farm. In this program, he said he’s learned hard work, patience and responsibility — skills he said have changed his life. He added that he’s willing to consider a job involving large animals when he is eventually released.
Arp is also part of the sheriff’s office’s construction program, which teaches construction trades to detainees. The agency also offers GED, veterans assistance, navigating probation, anger management and parenting programs.
Scipio said the sheriff’s office is committed to creating programs to help detainees “grow, heal and also prepare them for success” when transitioning back into the community.
Before being detained in the Cobb jail, Arp served time at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. He was released in September 2024 after serving since July on charges of theft by receiving, entering auto and theft by taking for an incident in 2018 in Paulding County.
“I started hanging out with the wrong people, I guess. Started partying. And I mean, one thing has led to another,” Arp said shyly. “I’m here for fleeing and eluding and they frown upon that pretty good. I don’t know how much time they’re going to give me for all this.”
Years of incarceration have changed his life. Now a decade into run-ins with the law, Arp said he’s ready to end the cycle.
Sheriff’s office spokesperson Randi Okray said a program like the equine therapy initiative can influence a detainee’s sentence. She referenced another detainee who completed the agency’s financial literacy program, and when his case went before a judge, his efforts to improve himself “did help his case.”
Officials are still figuring out how they’ll measure the new program’s success, and the agency is still determining how long detainees will spend with the horses before applications roll out again.
But Okray and Scipio agree the experience can only help Arp and Hembree when they’re ready to face their final disposition in court and when they make it out.
“(We hope) the families and everybody who knew who they were before they came into incarceration would be able to say, ‘Hey, wow, I noticed something different about you now. You changed,’” Scipio said.
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