Horse Care Volunteer
Daly City,
CA,
United States
For people who want to help the horses directly and are happy doing the physical, daily, unglamorous work that keeps them healthy. If you would rather muck a stall in the quiet of the morning than stand in front of a group, this is your track.
Our horses do the hardest job in the program. Many of them came to us needing help themselves. Keeping them sound, fed, and content is what makes everything else possible.
The work is feeding, watering, mucking, turnout, grooming, tack cleaning, health monitoring, and general barn upkeep at Ocean View Stables in Daly City, California, always under staff guidance. We ask for one shift a week minimum, three to four hours, and barn work does not pause for holidays or weather. Weekend and holiday coverage is our hardest need. Training is provided and we cover the cost of the background check.
After you apply: someone from the founding team will contact you to arrange a barn visit and orientation before your first shift.
Every Role Here Is Unpaid
Saved by the Saddle Foundation is a nonprofit. Board seats and volunteer roles are all unpaid, including our board.
What You Would Do
- Daily care: feeding, watering, hay, and checking each horse over
- Stalls and turnout: mucking, bedding, bringing horses in and out
- Grooming: brushing, bathing, mane and tail care, hoof picking
- Health support: watching for injury, lameness, or changes in behavior, and assisting the farrier and vet during visits
- Tack and equipment: cleaning and maintaining saddles, bridles, pads, and blankets
- Rehabilitation support: following the care plan for rescued horses coming back into condition
- Barn and property upkeep: fencing, water troughs, arena footing, general maintenance
Time and Requirements
- One shift a week minimum, three to four hours
- Morning and evening shifts, seven days a week
- Weekend and holiday coverage is our hardest need
- Must be 18 or older for independent barn work. Ages 16 and 17 welcome under direct adult supervision.
- Some horse experience preferred but not required
- Able to lift 50 pounds and work outdoors in heat, cold, and rain
- Closed-toe boots required, no exceptions
Unpaid position
Training We Provide
- Barn safety and horse behavior basics
- Safe haltering, leading, and tying
- Feeding protocols, and why each horse's ration is specific to that horse
- Recognizing signs of colic, lameness, and distress
- Emergency procedures including fire and loose horse
We will train someone willing to learn and willing to follow instructions exactly. Around horses, the rules exist because someone got hurt.
The Horses Come First
Many of our horses came to us needing help themselves. Keeping them sound, fed, and content is what makes every program we run possible. This is quiet, physical, essential work, and it happens whether or not a session is scheduled that day.