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Help with rescue horses in Beautiful British Columbia, Canada

5.0
(19 reviews)19

The experience

We run a retreat center on a beautiful 80 acre property in the Interior Mountains. We caters to retreat experiences and accommodations. We are home to 29 retired and former rescue horses.

Please read our profile very carefully before you apply. We do not ride any of our horses and we are very remote. You must have horse experience to apply. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE HORSE EXPERIENCE WE CANNOT HOST YOU.

What you offer

25 hours of help per week

Kitchen Hand: Help prepare, finish and serve meals.

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

Cleaning: Help clean the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and common areas.

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

What you get

2 days off per week

Private Room: You will have a bed in a private room. In other words, a room just for you.

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.

Bikes at your disposal: You can use our bikes any time you want.

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

Between 18 and 40 years old

Only hosts solo volunteers (doesn’t accept couples or partners)

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

Our retreat center is located in the mountains near Kamloops in a remote rural setting.

Our place is ideal for those that are wanting to getaway from the fast pace of town living, be in nature and are content with being in the mountains. We have lots of peace and quiet here and we enjoy a slow pace of life being immersed in nature.

We have 29 horses that you can spend as much time with as you want, along as retreat guests aren't working with the herd. We have chickens, ducks, 2 dogs and 1 barn cat. In exchange for food and accommodation we ask for a maximum of 5hrs a day, 5 days a week. We have a 3 bed apartment for staff above the main lodge. Each bedroom has its own private bathroom so you only share a kitchen and dining area, with a sofa in it and a small sun balcony.

Our property is remote, if you want to come here you must understand how remote we are. We do not have public transport. No taxis or Uber either.

We do not have a vehicle you can use. You have to understand that you would be at the retreat all the time and you would have to enjoy the slow pace of life we choose.

The closest big town is 45mins drive away and we do not go into town regularly. We are 15mins away from the local mountain resort, which we do go to drop garbage and daycare for our daughter. It has a small shop for snacks, cafes and restaurants, skiing in the winter and hiking/downhill mountain biking in summer.

We do not offer regular drop off and picks to there though, you would only be able to go if we are going. You could come with us there and back. If you have your own vehicle that is fine, you can leave and come back on your own time, as long as the daily work is done on time.

Activities & Shift

Your Horse experience needs to include being able to and having experience handling a horse, haltering a horse, leading a horse, experience with feeding horses and caring for them. You need to be confident with horses on the ground and being within a big herd of horses.
If you have just ridden a horse a couple of times but have no handling experience this does not quantify as strong horse experience to us. If you do not have any horse handling skills or experience then unfortunately we can not host you.
Daily tasks include, feeding horses grain and hay, topping up water troughs, checking all horses for injuries and giving meds, grooming horses, feeding and water for the chickens and ducks. Sometimes we have to give the horses some simply injury care.
Weekly tasks include cleaning water troughs, cleaning 1 stable out and putting new bedding in, cleaning chicken and duck houses out.
On top of these tasks they may be extra farm duties from day to day. These include but not limited to- weed removing, mowing lawn, wood chopping, painting and decorating, snow removal.
When we have retreats there is extra cleaning of the cabins and lodge. We also provide catering for our own retreats. All the catering is brought in fully cooked, so all we ask is that you reheat the food so its hot and serve on a buffet. Then come back and do dishes once the guests are finished. We do 3 meals a day for our guests.

In your free time we have lots of mountain hiking right from our property, we do have bears and cougars here so you must be safe and bear aware, always carrying bear spray etc. We have a big creek that runs through our property great for refreshing dip in the summer or cold plunges in winter, if you are brave enough! We have lots of books, puzzles, cards, dvd's and starlink wifi.

Rules

We have a strict no smoking, vaping or drugs rule at our property.
Minimal Alcohol consumption is ok.
English language
Kind and gentle to all animals is compulsory here.
Be polite to all guests and people here.