Volunteering Overview

NOTICE: Blue River Horse Center is in compliance with all Summit County Public Health "Business Social Distancing Protocol" regulations.

Become part of an amazing group of dedicated people who love helping kids and horses. BRHC volunteers assist in educational programs and learn to evaluate, retrain and rehabilitate rescued horses so they may find forever homes. We offer free training for our volunteers who come to us from all levels of experience.

Our educational programs provide experiential learning with horses that assist us in teaching communication, self-awareness and leadership skills. Since horses have a natural ability to show us things about ourselves that we may not be aware of, it allows us to make immediate corrections so we can be more successful, which can then be applied to our human relationships. Many of you who have experienced this at the ranch have shared how this knowledge has had a positive effect on your lives, especially in your relationships with others.

There are three ways to volunteer and support Blue River Horse Center:

• Ranch Programs
• Thrift Store
• Operations (Marketing, fundraising, grant writing, website design and more)

Get started with just 2 steps!

Step 1) Fill out a New Volunteer Application

You will receive a Welcome note, with a link to enroll in a half day orientation at Blue River Horse Center. Pick the best date for you from a list of class dates (Saturdays from 10am-2pm) and tell us the types of volunteering that interest you (ranch, store, and/or operations.). Please refer to our Child Volunteer Policy for ages 5-17.

Click here to fill out the Volunteer Application

Step 2) Attend New Volunteer Orientation

Learn horse psychology and valuable leadership skills, tour our historic ranch, watch a demonstration of using positive energy working with horses, and start interacting with our beautiful horses and mini-horses. We do not ride during Orientation, and there are no prerequisites. We welcome people with all experience levels. Whether you are unfamiliar with horses or an experienced horse handler, and whatever your age, from 8 to 95+, you will enjoy this class.

Once you are trained, you can...

• Participate in Advanced Volunteer Training
• Improve your horse handling skills
• Assist with horse rehabilitation
• Learn groundwork, de-sensitization, communication cues
• Round pen work, bodywork and riding (not required)
• Assist participants in our public educational programs for children and adults
• Assist with educational programs attended by local non-profit organizations who partner with us to teach animal communication and leadership with horses to the children in their programs.

There are Opportunities galore...

At The Ranch

From May through October help with rehabilitating rescued horses and assisting participants in our educational programs. Develop relationships with other like-minded volunteers. Find your happy place:

• Assist our educational program participants (often children having their first experience with horses).
• Assist with training rescued and boarded horses, ponies, and mini-horses, and increase our foster care horses’ chances of being adopted.
• Learn about sustainability and assist with ranch work such as haying, flood irrigation, carpentry, animal care, or vehicle maintenance.

At The Thrift Store

BRHC’s primary source of funding is our ReSaddled Thrift Store -- it’s a fun place to volunteer year round.

• Of course we need customer-satisfaction-focused retail salespeople, but we would welcome volunteers with retail merchandising and/or marketing skills, too.

In Our Operations

Bring your skills and gain experience to add to your resume by taking volunteer positions such as:

• Volunteer Coordinator
• Community Ambassador
• Event Manager
• Marketing/Websites/Social Media
• Fundraising
• Grant Writing

Our team is always looking for talented people to help run our non-profit

BRHC Membership:

• Learn how to train a horse from initial handling thru to riding.
• Work with the same horse all season, or work with multiple horses; your choice!
• Support our mission of providing programs that partner horses and people in experiential classes.
• No minimum or maximum of hours that you can volunteer
• Membership covers all your classes for the season (typically May thru October)
• A free trail ride or riding lesson
• A free mini class for any child associated with your membership, e.g. grandchild.

Cost is $150 for the season, payment thru Paypal. Full details at

Click here for membership details

BRHC Volunteers are wonderful to hang out with!

Meet Our Volunteers and hear what they say about their BRHC experiences.

Barbecue

Frisco 4th of July Parade

Elks Lodge Breakfast

Child Volunteer Policy for ages 5-17

Children ages 5-17 are encouraged to volunteer at Blue River Horse Center, children 4-8 can volunteer with the minis horses.

• Children ages 5 to 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times. If a child under 17 would like to volunteer, the parent(s) must also sign up as a volunteer and go through the training program as a family.
• Young Adults 18 and over can sign up and take the volunteer training class without a parent or guardian. Once they have taken the first class they may volunteer in any activities at the ranch.