2021 has officially been here for three weeks already, and Riding 4 Life is almost ready to start registering and scheduling all of our clients - returning and new!
Once again, I want to thank everyone for their love and support this past year - and what a year! We started out having to cancel our spring break camps and all of our spring programs. With some entrepreneurial adaptations to keep everyone safe during a pandemic we managed to get most of our programs running for the summer and fall sessions and then we were incredibly humbled by the overwhelming response from our surrounding community. We have had new clients waitlisted since late July of last year and are now working out the details of how to serve everyone hoping to fit into our schedule.
As the founder of Riding 4 Life, I am so grateful to the incredible crew of horse we now have, and so, so, SO PROUD of our interns for making this all possible! We collectively delivered 50 hours of therapeutic or horsemanship services each week from July through October of last year, and hope to increase that to 75 hours weekly in April of this year. Keep in mind that our interns are typically still in high school and I still fulfill 25+ contract hours each week as a social worker for a non-profit in our region.
With that said, here is what I've been working on over winter:
Finishing the program guides to the first 4 units of our curriculum before our teaching season begins. Our curriculum has 9 units in total and the first 4 will go a long way to helping our interns and instructors gain more independence as they take on more clients than ever before.
Outlining some new programs and reinventing some old ones. Look for detailed information on our new Behaviour Intervention Program called 'Barn Buddies'. While we've occasionally served a client or two in this way, upon request we hope to include a few more and formalize this program. Also, for some of our returning clients, we will have details about our refreshed 'Lifer's' program that offers a middle step for our intermediate students who are considering horse ownership.
Catching up and organizing an admin system that will hopefully allow me to be much more responsive. (Again, thank you everyone for your support and patience!)
Planning for the future to ensure we can continue to serve and grow our horsemanship community for years to come.
And sleeping! I won't lie. I was quite exhausted as we wound down our teaching season in November and I have definitely taken some time to rest, recuperate, and come back refreshed and re-inspired.
So rest assured, if you have emailed or contacted us through our website contact form, I will be contacting you in the coming weeks. Returning clients, as always, will be offered scheduling options first, followed shortly by all of our waitlisted/new clients.
Happy Trails everyone, and we look forward to horsin' around with you soon!
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