- Hands and Hearts for Horses provides therapeutic horseback riding for over 100 clients with disabilities weekly.
- Volunteers are critical to keeping therapy costs low.
- Watch the video to see how Thomasville neighbors benefit from horseback riding sessions.
BROADCAST SCRIPT
This horse behind me is making a difference here in Thomasville. It's helping people with disabilities improve their mental and physical well-being.
I'm exploring how this nonprofit is changing lives and why they need volunteers like you to keep it going.
Hands and Hearts for Horses has been helping clients improve mobility through therapeutic horseback riding for over 20 years.
The volunteers here play a vital role—making it possible for people like Chris, who's been coming for years, to keep benefiting from these life-changing sessions.
"I don't know what I'd do if something happened to him," said Ardeth Dukes.
Dukes is Chris's grandmother. She tells me this is his highlight of his week.
"This has been a blessing to him, it gets him out in the fresh air, and he's exercising," said Dukes.
The nonprofit faces a major challenge as demand grows: finding enough hands to support the riders.
Volunteer Joseph McAuley tells me with school back in session, many former volunteers are busy.
"We can't survive without volunteers. We certainly don't have enough money that we can pay people to do this. We wouldn't be able to then charge the little money that we do charge," said McAuley.
Volunteers here do everything from prepping the horses to guiding them during rides. For people like Chris, having a steady, supportive team around him is everything.
"When we get him on that horse, the horse movement is just so therapeutic, and then the exercises we give him and instruction get his brain connecting back to his body," said McAuley.
From getting the horses ready to act as "sidewalks," volunteers are an integral part of making sure the clients are safe
"Some of our students will need three volunteers plus the instructor, so you need a leader for the horse and a volunteer on each side," said McAuley.
Hands and Hearts for Horses is looking for volunteers this Thursday and Friday.
You can check out their websiteto sign up.
