FAQs

Click on one of the Frequently Asked Questions below, or scroll down to see all the answers:

Q: How can my child become a Mitey Rider?

A: If you are inter­ested in becom­ing part of the Mitey Rider fam­ily, click here to down­load the Rider Application Forms. Fill out these forms com­pletely and mail them to the farm address. We will call or email you upon receipt of your forms. Also, we would love to have you visit the pro­gram and make sure it is the right activ­ity for your child. Please do not hes­i­tate to con­tact us and sched­ule a time for a tour, and to observe a class session.

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Q: How much does it cost for my child to par­tic­i­pate each week in Mitey Riders?

A: Mitey Riders offers weekly equine ther­apy classes to par­tic­i­pants free of charge. It is part of our mis­sion to alle­vi­ate yet another cost of ther­apy to our fam­i­lies. Other sim­i­lar pro­grams in our region charge between $40-$125/hour for equine-assisted ther­apy. However, in exchange for our ser­vices, we do ask par­ents to con­tribute 30 hours of sweat equity each rid­ing sea­son. This can be accom­plished in a vari­ety of ways includ­ing office work, help with our spe­cial events, side-walking with other stu­dents, or being involved on the Mitey Rider Council. Siblings, CAP work­ers and other fam­ily mem­bers may help con­tribute to the 30 hours, how­ever, they will be logged as 1/2 hour for each hour worked, whereas par­ents earn a full hour of credit for each hour worked. Please feel free to con­tact us if you have any ques­tions, or click here to learn more about parent/family commitment.

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Q: Do you offer Hippotherapy?

A: No, we do not cur­rently offer a spe­cific Hippotherapy Program. While many of our rid­ers gain ben­e­fits related to Hippotherapy through our pro­grams, we focus on mounted and unmounted equine-assisted ther­apy sessions.

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Q: When do we ride?

A: Mitey Rider classes are held Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday each week, September to May. Click here to see all of our class times and full cal­en­dar schedule.

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Q: How can I vol­un­teer with Mitey Riders?

A: If you are inter­ested in becom­ing part of the Mitey Rider fam­ily, click [here] to down­load the Volunteer Application Forms. Fill out these forms com­pletely and mail them to the farm address [click here for address]. We will call or email you upon receipt of your forms. Before each rid­ing sea­son, we hold Volunteer Safety Orientation Sessions for ALL new and return­ing vol­un­teers. Attending one of these ses­sions is manda­tory if you wish to work directly with one of rid­ers. Additionally, if you wish to work in the barn or with the horses, we have an addi­tional Equine Orientation Session. These ses­sions are no more than 90 min­utes long and take place at the farm. You can find a list of dates for Orientation Sessions [here]. Please do not hes­i­tate to con­tact us with questions.

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Q: Can I earn school ser­vice hours at Mitey Riders?

A: Yes! We have over 40 high school and home­school stu­dents who earn ser­vice hours at Mitey Riders. You will receive a monthly and end-of-the-year let­ter via email with your hours from Mitey Riders.

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Q: Can I do my Senior Exit Project at Mitey Riders?

A: Yes. We do have a hand­ful of seniors who com­plete their Senior Exit Projects at Mitey Riders. However, you must be a cur­rent, trained vol­un­teer in the pro­gram. Please con­tact us to learn more.

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Q: Can a busi­ness, church, school or scout group come vol­un­teer for a one-day project?

A: Yes! We love hav­ing com­mu­nity groups come to the farm and help us with larger-scale projects that we would oth­er­wise not have the man-power to com­plete. Examples of these projects include painting/repairing fences, clean­ing up the trails, paint­ing barrels/cones/ring props, work­ing at our Spring Festival and much more. All groups must be approves and sched­uled at least 4 weeks in advance. Click here to con­tact us for more infor­ma­tion on bring­ing your group out to Mitey Riders!

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Q: What is a Volunteer Coordinator?

A: A Volunteer Coordinator (VC) is a vol­un­teer who is inter­ested in get­ting more involved! Each day of rid­ing has at least one VC appointed. The VC is the “go-to” per­son for all other vol­un­teers on that day, and he/she man­ages the sched­ule of vol­un­teers for each class on the day they are work­ing. In the case of rider and vol­un­teer absences, the VC will adjust the team sched­ules, and alert the farm to any changes.

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Q: What is the Mitey Rider pol­icy on inclement weather?

A: Classes will not occur in the case of win­ter weather 32 degrees and below. Additionally, if there is a thunder/lightning storm, we may not can­cel classes directly, but stu­dents will not be near the horses dur­ing storms due to safety con­cerns. Unmounted class­room activ­i­ties will be provided.

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Q: What are the “Mitey Rider Teams”? Why are these teams formed?

A: Mitey Rider Teams are the com­bi­na­tion of one horse, one rider and as many as three vol­un­teers. Throughout the course of each rid­ing sea­son, we do our best to keep the same “teams” together as often as pos­si­ble. The con­sis­tency built within the team allows for the rid­ers to suc­ceed at their high­est level, while gain­ing trust in his/her horse, leader and side-walkers. While we def­i­nitely under­stand that our teams will not be fully avail­able 100% of each sea­son, know that your involve­ment on one of our teams means a lot to your rid­ers suc­cess in our program!

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Q: Can I be men­tored to become a NARHA instruc­tor at Mitey Riders?

A: Currently, we do not offer men­tor­ing at our facil­ity unless oth­er­wise sched­uled with Joy. We do allow those inter­ested in NARHA cer­ti­fi­ca­tion the oppor­tu­nity to work within our pro­gram, how­ever, we may not always have avail­abil­ity to earn teach­ing hours or become employed with Mitey Riders.

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Q: What is a “typ­i­cal” rid­ing class like?

A: Each weekly class con­sists of 4–6 rid­ers in a group. As rid­ers arrive at the farm, they will meet up with their “team” as their horses are brought out to the mount­ing area for them. Once mounted, teams will warm-up in the out­door or indoor arena until all teams are ready, at which point the ses­sion con­tent will begin. Every week a les­son plan is devel­oped to build on a vari­ety of skills that chal­lenge our rid­ers phys­i­cally, cog­ni­tively and socially. At the end of the ses­sion, rid­ers are dis­mounted, they say their good-byes and we all look for­ward to see­ing each other again!

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Q: What types of activ­i­ties do we do in rid­ing class?

A: Class activ­i­ties are designed to chal­lenge and ben­e­fit our rid­ers in phys­i­cal, cog­ni­tive and social ways, and are a com­bi­na­tion of rid­ing skills and cre­ative edu­ca­tional games. The basic rid­ing skills we teach and develop include: walk, halt, trot, can­ter (when appro­pri­ate), 2-point, turn­ing, bar­rel courses, cav­aletti poles and more. In addi­tion, we strengthen these skills through games such as bowl­ing, bean­bag toss, mem­ory, match­ing and more. For added ben­e­fit, we take rid­ers through our Sensory Trail — an inter­ac­tive learn­ing trail ride within the wooded acres of Misty Meadows Farm. Click here to learn more about the activ­i­ties we do in class!

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Q: What is the Mitey Rider Spring Festival?

A: The Mitey Rider Spring Festival is the very last day of rid­ing each sea­son, and usu­ally falls on the first Saturday of May (spe­cific date will change each year — check our cal­en­dar to be sure!). The Spring Festival is a big day of fam­i­lies, friends and fun when every rider has the oppor­tu­nity to show off their skills for every­one to see! We have Mitey Rider mer­chan­dise, great food and sweets, face paint­ing, and much more for all guests to come and sup­port our amaz­ing rid­ers! Click here to see pho­tos of pre­vi­ous Festival days!

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Q: How can I sup­port Mitey Riders?

A: Mitey Riders could not exist with­out the gen­er­ous sup­port of our com­mu­nity. There are many ways to sup­port our pro­gram — from vol­un­teer­ing to cor­po­rate match­ing to shop­ping online through iGive. Every lit­tle bit helps, and every­thing makes a dif­fer­ence. To learn how you can sup­port Mitey Riders through dona­tions of time or money, click here.

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Q: Can I donate my horse to Mitey Riders?

A: If you have a horse or pony you feel would be well suited to our pro­gram, please click here to learn more about Horse Donations, or con­tact us. We have taken dona­tions in the past, and will con­sider each call on a case-by-case basis. Due to the num­ber of horses we care for, and the nature of our pro­gram, we pre­fer to take horses in as part of our Mitey Rider Lease Program. Click here to learn more about Horse Donations to Mitey Riders, or click here to learn more about the horses cur­rently in our program.

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Q: Can I donate tack and equip­ment to Mitey Riders?

A: Yes, we do accept tack and equip­ment dona­tions often — and we are very grate­ful for them! However, please note that we do not use Western tack, so we are look­ing for CLEAN English tack in excel­lent shape. We will not accept tack with rot, mold, bad stitch­ing, tears, etc. The safety of our horses and rid­ers is of the utmost impor­tance, and that starts with the qual­ity of our equip­ment. We are always in need of great sad­dles (14″-18″; all pur­pose, close con­tact and dres­sage) bri­dles (pony, cob, horse and over­sized), and blankets/sheets (all sizes; fly, turnout, win­ter). Click here to learn more about what is on our Wish List, and feel free to con­tact us with any questions.

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