PHILADELPHIA -- So how does a kid like Kareem Rosser, from a West Philadelphia neighborhood called "The Bottom," end up knowing so much about horses and polo, the so-called "Sport of Kings"? The same way dozens of other inner-city, at-risk kids do -- through the raspy-voiced, loud laughing, no-nonsense Lezlie Hiner.

Hiner, 54, is the founder and director of Work to Ride, a non-profit organization in which 20 boys and girls learn how to ride horses for free. In exchange, the students help with barn chores at the program's home base, Chamounix Stables, a safe haven deep within Philadelphia's Fairmount Park.

Kareem Rosser is awarded the Interscholastic Polo Player of the Year award. From left: Danny Scheraga, executive director of the Polo Training Foundation; Kareem Rosser; Lezlie Hiner. Courtesy Duncan Huyler

A New Jersey native with a psych degree and distaste for white-collar-type work, Hiner started the program in 1994. She leases the 3-acre property from the city for $1 a year and scrapes by on donations to keep the old barn standing, the horses fed and the kids off the streets.

To join, each aspiring participant must write a 300-word essay, but it's not what they write that matters, said Hiner.

"If I don't get an essay, well then you obviously don't have enough of a will to be here," she said.

To stay, good grades are required. Hiner doesn't tolerate anything below a C average. But kids who slip aren't kicked out. Hiner has a classroom in the barn where tutors help them improve their grades.

Hiner will also help you clean up your language. Literally. Daymar Rosser, Kareem's younger brother, has the cleanest mouth in Philly.

"I used to curse a lot when I was younger. Bad words, like, 'F' you,' 'F' this,' 'I don't want to do this 'S.' Stuff like this, and Lezlie used to put soap in my mouth."