If you love horses and kids, the Beekman Therapeutic Riding Center is the place for you! Each week we provide therapeutic horseback riding to a large number of students of all abilities, and we are always looking for help!

Classes are typically scheduled Monday through Friday from 9am through mid-evening. Those we strive for consistancy in our riding riding schedule, it is subject to change each term, depending on re-enrollment. For the comfort of our students, volunteers and staff, our heated indoor arena allows us to have classes even in the winter months. In warmer weather, we frequently take the students out riding on our groomed wooded trails that cover nearly a mile on the Beekman School campus.

How You Can Help
Our program relies heavily on the assistance of its volunteers in order to provide safe classes to our students. Depending on the student's abilities, he/she may require up to 3 assistants (volunteers) in order to ride safely. For example, in the case of a person with a lack of balance or strength, one person may be the "leader" of the horse while 1–2 volunteers may "sidewalk" next to the horse, giving the student any support they need. In the case of a disability that is less severe, the rider may only require a leader and no sidewalkers. The instructor of the class will assign you to a position according to your comfort level with the horses and the students in the class.

Other Ways You Can Help Out
We always need volunteers to assist in many other areas of the program's operation, such as upkeep of the facility, care and feeding of the animals, professional skills, writing grants, computer data input, filing and organizing, fund raising, and help with special events. Other areas may include farming needs, picking up hay donations, putting up or repairing fences, to name a few. Tell us what your interests are—we can probably use your help!

How Do You Qualify?
To help in classes, volunteers must be at least 14 years of age and are required to attend a "volunteer training". The training lasts approximately 1.5 hours and includes an orientation to our facility, an explanation of the services we provide, a review of our rules, and hands-on experience with the horses. Prior horse experience is not a requirement. A volunteer application must be on file in order for you to begin working in classes. Scheduling your volunteer hours may be done as early as the day of your training.

For more details, please contact our volunteer coordinator in the BTRC office at 517-755-2176, or send an e-mail to our volunteer coordinator at  volunteers@beekmanriding.org

Volunteer Rewards Program

As a way of thanking you for your help, we have a Volunteer Rewards Program in place which allows you to earn points toward riding the horses! By entering your hours on the volunteer log each time you come, we can keep track of your total and will issue you your Rewards Certificate after 20 hours of volunteering. In addition, we plan Volunteer Ride Days so you can come out and have fun with the horses on the trails!

Heres how to apply

Please click the following underlined links to download all needed volunteer applications. All 3 forms must be filled out for the application process. Please bring the completed forms with you, along with a photo copy of your drivers license, when you attend your volunteer training session. To download these files requires the use of Acrobat 7.0