In an equine movement session, we provide our riders with a skilled horse walker, a therapist, and a side walker. During each session, there is a team of three with the rider at all times unless specified otherwise. Our sessions are 45 minutes and we run five sessions back to back. The side walkers' tasks are as follows: direct patient safety, postural support, and engaging in tasks as directed by the therapist. This position is a very active position as you could be walking for the entire 45 minutes. A sidewalker is a very rewarding position as you get to be involved in the therapeutic growth of our patients. Please see the below list of minimum requirements for our side walking position.

• Walk two sessions consecutively
• Physically support 25 lbs over your shoulder height
• Provide reliable transportation
• Notify the team of any absences a week in advance unless it is an emergency
• Demonstrate proficiency in an emergency evacuation.
• Demonstrate professionalism in a therapeutic environment

As described above we run five sessions back to back and can run three sessions at a time. We switch horses between sessions and this is where the horse assistants help. Our horse assistant position is responsible for reading the schedule, gathering the horses needed, grooming and tacking the horse, untacking and putting horses away. This position is hands-on with our horses and can be very enjoyable if you love working with horses. The position requirements are listed below:

• Lift 30 lbs
• Provide reliable transportation
• Notify the team of any absences a week in advance unless it is an emergency
• Demonstrate professionalism in a therapeutic environment
• Have prior experience with horses or be willing to learn
• Halter, tie, brush, and tack
• Bonus lunge, ride, doctor and feed
• Be willing to take direction from the horse walkers
• Manage time well

Our farm is managed by one person leaving the weekends open for care help. During the week our care team is supported by adults with disabilities but they have the weekends off. We are always looking for help on the weekends that can be traded for a more extended time with the horses, possible riding, and the possibility of compensation over longer periods of time when feeding is left in your full care. This position is really customizable to your needs but below is listed the general structure.

Minimum requirements:

• Reliable transportation to and from the farm
• Independent with tasks
• Experience with horses and farm animals
• Experience driving a small tractor is a plus but not required.
• Ability to lift 40 lbs
• Ability to identify colic and other lamenesses
• General Structure of weekend help:
• Morning feed between 7-8 am (30 mins to an hour)
• Turn horses out to pasture
• Mucking stalls and spreading in the pasture (1- 2 hours)
• Evening feed between 3-5 PM (30 minutes to an hour)

This is the structure of how the chores are taken care of when it is just our barn manager around. When help is present this goes a lot faster and the volunteer does not need to be there for the entire time.