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Western horse assistant and ranch assistant

5.0
(28 reviews)28

The experience

Work with a western cowhorse horse trainer caring for, feeding horses and bison, cleaning pens and watering livestock, grooming, saddling, and bringing horses to the arena for them to be worked with by the trainer. Saddling and prepping horses for lessons as well. There is other ranch chores included that relate to ranching and winter ranch maitenance. This can include but isnt limited to pasture and pen maitenance, fence repairs, snow and more.

What you offer

5 hours of help per day

Animal Care: Help look after and take care of animals.

Building & Repairing: Help with a wide range of repairs or building.

What you get

1 day off per week

Shared Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other travelers.

Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.

Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.

Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.

Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.

Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.

Fast Internet Access: High-speed internet for you to work remotely

Requirements

Intermediate English

Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

Extensive horse experience is required. Experience with western horses is a bonus. Extreme attention to detail, animal care and treatment, being a proactive self starter, and excellent standards are a must. This is not a riding position. There may be some very limited riding opportunity available but is not a guarentee. You are welcome to watch any lessons or clinics happening at the ranch and the more interest you have in learning about western cowhorses this is a great place.

If you're interested in horses you are welcome to watch any lessons or clinics going on at the ranch. There may be some limited riding opportunity to those seriously interested and wanting to learn about western riding and horsemanship but we can't guarentee it at this time. The main focus on the ranch is training competitive Reined Cowhorses, teaching lessons and clinics. Most of the horses on the ranch are clients horses here for me personally to train and compete with, my own competition horses, and our older horses that are used for lessons, clinics and my kids horses. There is always lots of horses to groom and spend time with and lots of opportunity to observe and learn but due to limited horses that are not already booked for lessons ride time is not always possible.

Activities & Shift

We require a minimum of 4 weeks but prefer traveller's who would like to stay longer. This position specifically has very limited space.

Rules

This is a winter season outdoor position located in Canada. You should already have experience with cold and likely be an outdoor winter sports person. November-March is mostly below freezing and quite snowy.

Must get along well with small children as we have 2 that are a huge part of our lives, very friendly, and always here. We live rurally so its best if you enjoy hiking and the great outdoors in your space time. We dont accomodate special diets currently and have a fairly meat filled diet. No smokers or drinkers please.