“Walking On” at Valley Therapeutic Equestrian Association
**VOLUNTEERS WANTED**
Valley has always been a place of potential, and now that we are preparing to open the arena doors to our local community once again, we feel that sense of unbridled possibility more than ever. In September, we are welcoming back clients who have been without therapeutic riding for over a year. Rejoining our community, they will be able to reconnect with our instructors and the horses, and finally begin the next steps of their healing journeys.
The challenges of the pandemic allowed us all to pause and reevaluate. We took the opportunity to examine both our brand and our programs and add new opportunities for healing for our clients. As such, our focus on Equine Facilitated Wellness (EFW) programs and mental health has increased. The EFW programs are evolving and expanding, but have had time, over the past year and a half, to solidify and stand in their own right alongside our well-established Therapeutic Riding and Hippotherapy programs.
With all that we have faced in the months behind us, and all that we cannot know about the months ahead, we are excited and looking toward the positive. Right now, we are reaching out to the wonderful, hardworking volunteers who have been the backbone of this organization for years — and encouraging many, many more applications from new volunteers who would like to, as we like to say, give back to themselves as much as they give to others.
Volunteering at Valley is an experience defined by connection, healing, and fulfillment. Our Leaders and Side Walkers work closely with clients while guiding them around the arena, often building a personal relationship, or at the least, being a comforting and necessary presence for their healing journey. Barn volunteers assisting our Equine Manager help to take care of Valley's stars, our empathetic therapy horses. All regular volunteers benefit from physical activity, whether through walking beside or in front of the horses, or by the grooming, feeding, and other heavy-lifting tasks performed in the barn and paddocks. Paired with the benefits to their mental health, such as the fulfillment that comes from knowing that you are an integral part of the reason why someone else starts feeling better, being a volunteer at Valley can be transformative.
Other volunteers, like our Valley Storytellers who write about equine therapy-related topics for our website blog, or Micro-Volunteers who help out around the property now and then with odd jobs, are also essential to the Valley community. While they may not work directly with horses and clients, these individuals understand the necessity of Therapeutic Riding, Hippotherapy, and Equine Facilitated Wellness. Their stories and tasks weave into Valley's story as a whole.
We really are a family here, and once you arrive on the property, you'll get it — that feeling specific to Valley. We have often called it "the Valley vibe".
Potential has defined us since 1983, and if you are looking to become a part of that, a part of our family, we welcome you. We are so excited for this restart, and so ready to welcome back more clients and more volunteers than ever.
