Horse Handler

Job Description – Horse Handler

EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Part Time, Hourly

WORK SCHEDULE: Maximum of 19.5 hrs./week Monday-Friday

REPORTS TO: Equine Program Manager

GENERAL FUNCTION: Horse Handlers are responsible for preparing and handling of horses during therapy sessions, ensuring safety in situations involving equines, and assisting the equine team with overall horse and facility care.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE: 3 years of recent experience with horses.

REQUIRED EDUCATION: High school diploma or general education degree (GED) and be 18 years of age or older.

PREREQUISITE SKILLS:

• Have working equine knowledge and demonstrate comfort and confidence around horses.
• Ability to detect illness/injury in a horse and ability to interpret equine behavior.
• Ability to groom, tack, and lead horses independently.
• Ability to clearly and effectively communicate through both verbal and written methods.
• Ability to problem solve.
• Ability to work as a team in an efficient and respectful fashion.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

The following functions describe the essential duties of this role. Other additional related duties may be assigned from time to time.

• Ground drive or head lead horses for physical and occupational therapy sessions. Ensure safety of client, therapist, and horse during each hippotherapy session. Walk several miles throughout the course of a day on uneven terrain.
• Help with horse/barn care, such as feeding, turnout, cleaning/filling water buckets, laundry, horse healthcare, etc.
• Properly groom and tack therapy horses for hippotherapy sessions.
• Assist in daily upkeep and maintenance of tack, tack room, stable, pastures, and arena.
• Demonstrate strong horsemanship skills and equine knowledge. Handlers should be able to interact with horses independently and with confidence and respect.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS/ABILITIES:

• Commitment to Culture: Makes a positive contribution to organizational culture. Models our share values. Is a collaborative teammate. Leads by positive example.
• Personal Accountability: Takes ownership of own work and responsibilities. Is reliable and dependable to the rest of the team. Able to work autonomously when appropriate to achieve daily tasks.
• Safe Practices: Consistently practicing safe methods in the barn, when handling horse, and in arena. Takes personal responsibility for the safety of the herd and therapy sessions.
• Mission Minded: Commitment and passion for the mission of serving children with special needs, specifically while on horseback.

PHYSICAL/ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Ability to lift up to 50 pounds.
• Ability to walk up to 10 miles per day.
• Ability to work safely around horses.
• Ability to work in cold or hot weather environments.
• Ability to sustain frequent standing, walking, bending (forward and sideways), grasping, twisting at the waist, squatting, kneeling.

TherAplay is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to the inclusion of and full participation by all persons in the achievement of our mission.

Job Type: Part-time

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Work Location: In person