The North Carolina State University Veterinary School has offered to do a complex castration for our mini horse, Cooper.  He is a cryptorchid stallion which means one testicle did not descend properly and is stuck on the other side of his abdominal muscles.  This will be a teaching clinic surgery for the more advanced veterinary students and as with all surgeries there is risk involved.  This surgery will be closely supervised and assisted by Dr. Callie Fogle, DMV, DACVS.  This will take place March 10th at the vet school’s main facility.  After the surgery, Cooper will be recovering at Gwen’s home so he can be closely watched and recuperate without the stresses of the other horses in close proximity.  It can take up to 6 months for the male hormone to be gone from his system and for his stallion behavior to disappear.

This donated service saves our organization $1,500 – $2,000 on this type of surgery.  It is necessary and potentially life changing for Cooper, and we cannot express enough gratitude to NCSU Vet School for this generous contribution.

We are grateful for the partnership that NCSU Vet School has formed with HfH. They have been performing all our standard castrations for years now – free of charge, but this is especially above-and-beyond standard. Please keep him and the staff/students at NCSU in your prayers for a successful surgery without complications.

We would like to express a heartfelt thank you to Greg Joyner and all of Triangle Equipment Co. Greg and team were gracious enough to let Horses for Hope demo one of their Bobcats for a brief period of time.  Because of their generosity we were able to give our facility a much needed face lift by re-working the compost piles, grading some areas with severe drainage problems and improving our training area.  Our facility looks so much better now!

This generous gift has allowed us to not only improve our facility but it also helped us to realize how much we really need one of these machines.  We are starting a fundraising effort to make this possible.  Horses for Hope is looking forward to doing business with Greg in the future and cannot recommend Triangle Equipment Co. highly enough for equipment rental and purchase needs.  Thank you again, you are absolutely great to work with.

Please take a moment and visit our partner at http://www.ncbobcat.com.

If your passion is horses, children, or helping special needs families – then let us fuel your passion.

Seasonal Therapeutic Riding Volunteers

Help 1 day a week ~60 minutes for 10 weeks.

Our TR program is 100% volunteer based. Without volunteers we have no way to support our special needs families with FREE Spring and Fall therapeutic riding!

• Horse leaders: We need people ages 15+ EXPERIENCED in handling horses to be a horse leader for our Therapeutic Riding sessions. New horse leaders MUST train with us. See our calendar for announced training dates. Email Gwen for more info (gwen@horsesforhope.org)
• Side-walkers: ages 15+ to walk beside our TR riders providing support and direction. Email Julia (volunteer@horsesforhope.org)
• Groomers: younger ages require parental supervision. We need groomers all year. Email Julia (volunteer@horsesforhope.org)

If you wish to volunteer, please email Julia for the volunteer forms and complete our online registration for volunteers at: Horses For Hope – Volunteer Intake Form to let us know what days and times you can commit to serving. Please only mark the days and times you want to volunteer. (if the form doesn’t work, please let Julia know)

Year-Round Volunteering Opportunities

• Groomers: younger ages accepted dependent on child and Gwen. We need groomers all year. Email Julia (volunteer@horsesforhope.org)
• Feeders: Feeders are needed every day – early mornings and early evenings. We will train. This requires a commitment, as it is no matter the weather the horses depend on us for feed and water. Must be 15 or older. Anyone younger will have to work with an adult. Teams are encouraged. Email Gwen for more info (gwen@horsesforhope.org)
• Barn Clean-up & Maintenance: We are always looking for people to poop scoop or help maintain the property and trails. Email Julia for more info (volunteer@horsesforhope.org)

Committees, Fundraising, Marketing

Help us to grow Horses for Hope by serving as committee members, fundraising help, marketing, grant writers, certified accountants etc., to volunteer time and services. If interested, please Email Gwen for more info (gwen@horsesforhope.org)