Horses & Horizons seeks volunteers

Horses & Horizons Therapeutic Learning Center will begin a six-week session of therapeutic horseback riding lessons for children with disabilities on Sept. 12. For the program to be safe and effective, many volunteers are needed. The center’s staff will teach you what you need to know, so experience with horses and/or people with disabilities is helpful, but not necessary.

A training session for new volunteers will be held 1-5 p.m. Aug. 20 at the center, 10 miles south of Tamaqua near Route 309. Lesson volunteers are required to attend the hands-on training.

Horses & Horizons Therapeutic Learning Center is a registered nonprofit that is staffed entirely by volunteers. It offers therapeutic riding lessons on Monday and Wednesday evenings. This year it has scheduled a summer session of lessons and a fall session. Each session is seven weeks long. You are asked to give one or two hours of your time on either lesson night for a sevenweek session.

Fourteen is the minimum age for lesson volunteers. There is no maximum age, provided a volunteer is in good health, and can walk for an hour at a time. In the interest of safety for riders and everyone involved in lessons, volunteers must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 before the start of lessons. New volunteers will be trained as side aides who assist riders during lessons. The center also needs people with horse experience to become horse leaders and it welcomes the volunteer assistance of professionals in the allied health fields of physical, occupational and speech therapy.

In addition to lesson volunteers, Horses & Horizons Therapeutic Learning Center also needs people to assist with grounds maintenance, cleaning saddles and bridles, and fundraising. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer should contact volunteer coordinator, Jane Ostroski, at 484-375-5354 or jeohhtlc15@gmail.com. For information, go to www.horsesandhorizons.org or call Elaine or Harvey Smith at 570-386-5679.