Over 25 adults and 10 children (kept busy in a play area set up to encourage their parents to attend) participated in the 2018 AGM of the Hinchinbrook Farm Society. Other members who could not attend sent in their proxies so that the meeting could officially go into the record-books.
The meeting was held off-site to allow more space and serving a delicious snacks.
Charlotte helps President Carolyn Collicut thank teen volunteers Roze McDormand and Jaime Collicut
In addition to the business at hand, awards were presented to volunteers, often by the kids who help them with their lessons. Without our 40 or so volunteers, Hinchinbrook Farm would not be able to operate and serve over 20 families in Horse Boy and a total of about 70 riders.
In the photo below, Patty introduces our Instructor-in-Training, Megan Daniels, who has almost completed her CanTRA certification and Horse Boy World training.
Program Director Patty McGill thanks our founding president, Carolyn Collicut.
The AGM elected our new Board of Directors as follows:
- Carolyn Collicut continues as President
- Amy Sparks
- Nikki Ali
- Pamela Wendell-McDormand
- Peter de Vries
- Bruce Parks (new)
- Kela Larocque (new)
We gratefully thank the members of the Board who have stepped down at the end of the current term: Roze McDormand, Mary Bhagan, and Kim Carlow-Berkeley.
The BOD will nominate its Secretary, Treasurer and Vice-President at its first meeting.
The meeting also heard from David Friendly, our grant writer, about his visit to the Community Foundation of Nova Scotia. They have program where they set up an endowment fund for a charity and manage the fund and all the administration. For this, we would pay a fee of about 2%, which is less than it would cost to set one up ourselves, once lawyer, accounting and investment fees were added together. David suggested that if we wanted to totally fund our annual budget of about $160,000, would would need an endowment of $2.5 million. The Community Foundation will set up endowments of about $25,000 or higher, but David suggested that a minimum we should aim for at the start is $100,000. That would give us an annual income of about $7,000, which would cover our veterinarian and farrier costs for the year. David asked all present to provide him with leads to people who might be interested in helping Hinchinbrook get to this next level of self-sufficiency.
Hinchinbrook Summer Weekend Horse Boy Camp for families new to Horse Boy is now history and we think everyone had a great time! Despite a very rainy Friday night, which required the dryer to work overtime on Saturday, all three families (9 kids in total) were still all smiles on Sunday when it came time to finish the last of the activities. They rode, bounced, sang, ate, hiked, investigated, paddled, fished and swam their hearts out for 48 hours from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. Kids and parents were all active and, of course, exhausted, by the end of each day.
It was a bright sunny day that warmed up the Farm quickly as several brand new volunteers listened, watched and got up close and personal with the horses for their inaugural training session with Patty. We learned about horse care, grooming, lunging and how to tack up. One of the new volunteers was once a client, and wants to help other kids through this successful therapeutic program. Learning included the differences and similarities between the therapeutic riding and Horse Boy Method™ programs.
Since Jazzmin is so good at doing tricks, and needs the mental stimulation to keep her happy, the training included having new volunteers run her through her paces, playing games with rings and giving other trick commands; followed, of course, by the requisite treats!
Because of how busy people are these days, even more volunteers are needed at Hinchinbrook, especially in winter when older teens go back to university and some of the adult volunteers either go to the winter homes or vacation. To sign up for the next training session on August 5, contact Patty at our e-mail or by phone. You can find both on the 
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Bridgewater Branch has included Hinchinbrook Farm once again in their community service volunteer program. A team of about 6 employees will be coming to the Farm on April 30 to pitch in with spring cleaning chores that will include preparing a new play area for the kids by expanding the Horse Boy Paddock, and perhaps some fence post pounding and “road apple” removal. Their hard work will save Patty and her summer students weeks of work. Our thanks to the RBC crew for this huge contribution.
In 2016 Tell Tale Productions Inc. spent many hours and days at Hinchinbrook Farm and the homes of various clients creating a film that will be showcased on the CBC documentary show Firsthand. The first full length film about the Horse Boy Method™ to be produced in Canada, it follows three of our special friends who come to the farm on a regular basis to work with the horses and open their lives to new possibilities. You can see the description of the program at the following link: 
In the space of two hours, 80 artists painted 80 masterpieces. The outburst of mass creativity took place at a fundraiser sponsored by the Hinchinbrook Farm Society (HFS) at the Mahone Bay Centre October 22, 2016.
Phase 2 of the pathways project was again funded by 
