We understand that some people have the desire to be around horses but not to necessarily ride. Volunteer opportunities are available at Rolling Hills if you are at least 14 years old or older. We offer the opportunity to the community to volunteer with our therapeutic horseback riding program and with camps. As you might imagine, a lot of work goes into running a horse farm. There’s always plenty of work to be done, so we can always use extra help. It’s hard work, but it’s enjoyable. No experience is necessary. Training will be provided.
If you work full days, you’ll get to ride for at least one hour each time you volunteer. However, if you choose to work half days, you will be allowed to ride at least one hour every other time you volunteer.
We are looking for people who plan to volunteer on a regular basis. We don’t accept volunteers on a casual basis because it doesn’t allow time for you to learn our horses’ names and dispositions, which pasture each horse belongs in, our trails, how to properly groom a horse, how to ride well enough to assist our customers on the trails when needed, and how we operate. We ask that our volunteers commit to a minimum of two full days a month. If this sounds like a program you’d be interested in, we accept inquiries by phone and email.
Email or call and let us know when you’d like to start. The first time you volunteer you’ll need to sign a Waiver of Liability so that you can work with the horses and ride. If you’d like to come out for a visit to meet us and see our stables, you’re welcome to stop by anytime during business hours.
The types of things you’ll be asked to do include: grooming the horses, tacking up, clearing trails, helping to maintain the pastures, oiling tack, deworming, feeding and watering the horses, giving baths, and cleaning up horse poop. If you don’t know how to do these things (and most of our new volunteers don’t), we’ll teach you. That’s the huge benefit of being a volunteer. You’ll learn more by volunteering than we would teach you even if you were paying for lessons, because in our lessons, we only teach you to ride – not how to deworm a horse and how often, give necessary vaccinations, what to feed, how much, and how often, recognize when they’re sick, know what to do in a situation where a horse is colicing or injured, and when to call the vet.