HORSES UNLIMITED INC. is able to provide therapeutic horse back riding to  people from Lassen, Sierra & Plumas counties. With the effort of an all  volunteer staff, we are entering into our 6th year.

We have increased  our student numbers since our first year and along with that we have met  the need for increased numbers of volunteers. We now have over 30 local   volunteers to work with. Some of these people are on the board of  directors, some help with the facility maintenance and repair, some are  staff with the responsibility of recruiting students and custom designing  each lesson.

We have a treasurer/bookeeper, public relations and  marketing person, a fund-raiser, a newsletter editor, a tack room (barn)  manager, and a volunteer coordinator. The remainder of the volunteer  help is used in the lesson. We ask the "team volunteer" to commit to 8  consecutive 4 hour blocks of time. This allows us to match the volunteer  to a student or horse for each 8 week session.

A "team" for a lesson can  consist of 1 to 4 volunteers per student, depending on the need of the  student. We provide training for the "team volunteer" each Spring. This  includes horse safety, grooming, saddling, and bridling the horse, how to  correctly fit a safety helmet for the student rider, and how to sidewalk,  with emphasis on emergency action to be taken in the event of an   accident.

We encourage growth, provide educational materials, and give  incentives to volunteers who wish to take on more responsibility. Some  of our volunteers have been with the program since our first days in 1994. We have help from the jr. volunteer (who needs a sponsor, and transportation to the facility) to the high school student, the college student, the adult who wants to help, and on up to the retired person, who is looking to add purpose to their spare time. We are in the process  of designing a format for some of our students to become volunteers.

Happily, our volunteer numbers continue to increase, as word of mouth of  our program spreads. At the same time, we are able to increase the number of volunteer working hours (1998 over 2,000 total volunteer working hours) and the number of students that we can serve.

Information | Photo Page | Accreditation | 6th Year of Service | Horses & Rehab | Funding