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Valentia Equine Retraining Centre |
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About Our reason for existence is “People helping horses in need of Rescue“.
The organization has a specialized program for each new horses that is brought to the stable. All horses must be checked for injuries, health problems and temperament for example: if a horse is brought in injured, a volunteer will be required to walk the horse for its exercise as opposed to letting it spend time out in the paddock. All horses will have an individual feeding schedule , with different foods and how much they need to eat. They all have to be groomed, fed, cleaned, monitored for health, get medical attention (if they need it), trained to lunge and be ridden and be given attention. The volunteeers who want to help the horses are of all ages the organiztion works with and trains them to work with the individual horses at their (aptitude) skill level , each person is different and treated as such.
There are two types of volunteers at Valentia Equine Retraining Centre; these are long term and short term volunteers. The short term volunteers are mostly drop-ins that will come to the farm to see if there is anything to help with that day or are only in the area for a short time period. The long term volunteers are people who come to the farm on certain days throughout the week, as well as assist in events during the year.
The volunteers chosen to assist with the non profit come from all walks of life, whether they are five years old or eighty years old or they have social or physical limitations, as long as they gain something from the experience of the volunteer work.
To decide how to put the volunteers to use, the directors and the manager assess the skills and limitations of the volunteers on an individual basis. They work with people of all ages and skill levels.
Activities
We feel that everyone has something to offer. Once the skills and limitations are assessed and the volunteers prove to be committed to their volunteer work they are assigned to a horse to groom, feed and spend time with. Since these horses have to be introduced to a different style of farm they need as much attention as possible. In addition to assisting with the horses, the volunteers help with building paddocks, setting up for events, feeding ducks, cleaning rabbit cages and helping with the other animals on the farm.
Administrative Organization
The administration is in the process of creating a database to organize the volunteers. Valentia Equine Retraining Centre is still under development. We feel the administrative organization still needs some work.
We also provide special event days Farmfest ( with the Kawartha Agriculture dept. ), Spooky Trails (Celebration of Trails Canada ) are two examples, that give the volunteers an oportunity to show off what they have accomplished, either by taking the vistors around to see the animals and giving an explanation as to what breed the horses are and the history of each of the horses. We also provide a opportunity for the volunteer to show off their riding skills, at a competition show which is takes place each year. We accept (at recommendation) & cover the expenses for 4-8 children in a riding camp each year and hope to expand on these numbers and assist more children in the future.
The primary age of the volunteers are youth between the ages of 13 to 60 , we have in the region of 13 . By putting horses and people together we achieve two things, the horses are given a new lease on life and the people are given purpose. In the case of youth it provides them with life skills, job skills, pride in their accomplishments and a sense of belonging that comes from the unconditional love from the horses.
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