Unloading a 7,000-pound shipment of animal feed can quickly become an onerous task. On a firecracker-hot, late-July day at the Hidden Hills Stables Tack and Feed Store, Jordan Abner manages to make it look easy.

With an ever-present smile, Jordan slings individual 50-pound bags of feed for horses, cattle, chickens, pigs, and pets off the delivery truck one-by-one. The bags are then wheeled inside the Owsley County shop’s feed room, where Jordan stacks and sorts them amongst existing stock.

“Work doesn’t turn into a job unless you’re not having fun, and I’m having fun,” Jordan says, pausing briefly to dab sweat from his brow. “I always try to do my best on anything that I’m asked to do.”

That positive attitude helped the 15-year-old Owsley County High School sophomore excel at his summer job. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Youth Program helped him land that job, and develop the skills and work ethic he needed to succeed in it.

Jordan’s attitude and demeanor made it very easy for the well-known shop’s owner, Keith Gabbard, to agree to hire Jordan as a paid summer work experience participant through the Youth Program. Gabbard later extended an offer to Jordan to keep his job for the rest of the summer even after his WIA-related employment ended July 1.

“I’d like to work here as long as I can,” Jordan says. Gabbard says he plans to reward Jordan for a job well done by letting him continue working on weekends even after school starts.

That possibility excites Jordan, since it means he might be able to continue manning the shop’s tow-along tack trailer at weekend horse shows across central and eastern Kentucky. Gabbard says that aspect of the job signifies his absolute trust in Jordan, since selling the shop’s equine medicines, products, and riding supplies also involves managing thousands of dollars in purchases.

“I’ve turned him loose handling money, so that says a whole lot about him,” Gabbard says. “You don’t let someone do that unless you trust them.”

Charlotte Thompson, a supervisor in the Owsley County Board of Education’s WIA Youth Program and student advocate at Owsley County High School, says Jordan’s success is impressive for more than just his continued employment at the shop.

Since Jordan joined the program last September, Charlotte says she has seen a formerly reserved student learn how to open up and interact well with the public, bring a host of C’s up to B’s, and become a regular fixture on the school’s honor rolls and perfect-attendance logs.

“We got him into extra tutoring, and it really has paid off,” Charlotte says. “Had it not been for the Youth Program, he probably wouldn’t have had the incentive to do what he has done.”

The program offers a broad range of services to young people between the ages of 14 and 21. These services include opportunities for assistance with academic or job-related learning, developing leadership skills, preparing for further education, and eventual employment. The program is administered by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP), and provided locally through the Owsley County Board of Education.

The program also offers participants opportunities for paid summer work experience assignments with local employers. The program covers employers’ costs for participants to work roughly 30 hours per week for five weeks, and those participants get the opportunity to earn while they learn.

Those jobs are not just work for work’s sake. The program places participants in jobs that match their skills, abilities, and interests. In Jordan’s case, his experience working with horses and mules at his home farm made accepting his placement at Hidden Hills an easy decision for him as well as Gabbard and his staff.

“I’d say I’ve had mules and horses since I was in diapers,” Jordan chuckles. He says that working knowledge helps him know the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in the countless bridles, bits, saddles, ties, and halters sold at the store.

To demonstrate, Jordan grabs a shiny metal mouth bit off the wall featuring teeth like a saw blade. By tugging the reins, those jagged teeth help a rider correct a horse that strays in the wrong direction, he explains.

“A rough horse might need that one, but a horse that’s already broken could use this,” Jordan says, palming another totally smooth bit. “It really just depends on the horse you’ve got.”

Jordan’s ability to explain those sorts of differences goes a long way in helping customers figure out exactly what they need, says Zara Evans, Gabbard’s only full-time help at the shop.

“It’s very important to place these kids in jobs that they know something about,” Evans says. “In our case, if you put someone in here that really doesn’t know much about animals or this equipment, it would be really hard for us to train them. The way the Youth Program does it, it makes it easier on us and the participant, too.”

Evans says the program’s good match with Jordan has allowed Gabbard to focus less on teaching him the basics, and more on answering his questions and explaining some of the finer points of running a tack and feed business.

Besides those specifics, Jordan recognizes the broader skills and positive work traits he picked up during his summer work experience job.

“It teaches you how to hold on to something and keep it up until it’s done like the person who hired you wants it done,” Jordan says. “It’s a good learning experience.”

“Who knows,” Gabbard interjects. “He might come back, buy this shop and run it someday.”

As enticing as that sounds, Jordan says he is content to do his job, and is grateful the WIA Youth Program gave him the chance to prove himself in a work environment. But for now, there is precious little time to rest up and reflect further, as there are shop floors and a feed room to be swept and cleaned. Only two days remain until the next 7,000-pound shipment of feed rolls into the shop, and it starts all over again.

For Jordan, it is all in an honest day’s work, and he hopes to keep making it look easy for some time to come.