Volunteer Program

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Wild Souls Ranch! We accept volunteers at both our long term Fortuna location as well as our new location in Arcata. At this time, Arcata is not yet open for client programs, but we are hopeful that it will be ready soon. For now, most volunteer opportunities involve general maintenance of Fortuna and helping us get the ranch ready for sessions later in the year at Arcata.

Current Volunteer Opportunities 
Current volunteer tasks may include independent ranch work such as: 

  • Mucking stalls and paddocks 

  • Scrubbing troughs 

  • Pulling weeds and general landscaping 

  • Mowing and trimming vegetation 

  • Assisting with fencing preparation and other ranch improvement projects 

  • General cleanup and maintenance 

This is a great opportunity if you enjoy being outdoors, don't mind getting your hands dirty, and want to make a meaningful impact behind the scenes. Every project completed brings us one step closer to expanding equine-assisted services to more people in our community. 

A Note About Horse Interaction & Riding 
Because our horses are part of our equine assisted programs, volunteers are not guaranteed any riding or brushing time. This is an intentional part of our program structure so that we can preserve our herd for the clients who depend on these horses for their sessions. 

Volunteer opportunities involving closer horse handling, such as side walking, tack-up assistance, or other client-program support, are not automatically available to new volunteers. Due to the sensitive nature of our clients and the responsibility involved in working around both horses and participants, these opportunities are considered on a case-by-case basis depending on experience and length of volunteering time.

Volunteer Schedule 
For in-ranch volunteering, we ask volunteers to make a regular weekly commitment so that we can maintain a consistent and organized schedule. We need assistance every day of the week.

For Monday–Saturday volunteering, volunteers need to commit to a regular schedule and be fingerprinted before beginning. The cost of fingerprinting can be reimbursed by Wild Souls Ranch upon receipt. 

If you would prefer to be on call for special events or occasional public volunteer days, please let us know as well. We can keep your information on hand and reach out as those opportunities become available. 

We truly appreciate your interest in supporting Wild Souls Ranch. There is a lot of work that goes into preparing a ranch for therapeutic programming, and our volunteers make an important contribution to making that work possible. 

Warmly, 
 The Wild Souls Ranch team

 

Interested in volunteering? Submit the form below and we will reach out!