We are excited to share that Hinchinbrook Farm has been selected by @CTJumpstart to receive a grant from their #SportReliefFund. The fund helps community sport organizations like ours continue to provide access to sport and play for Canadian kids. This grant will go a long way towards helping us to invite 3-4 families for a Weekend Sensory Experience based on our family-centred equine and recreational therapy programs.
Along with Jumpstart, Hinchinbrook Farm understands the role sport plays in the health and well-being of kids and their families. Despite the recent lockdown, we are doing everything possible to help community sports continue. Jumpstart has provided Hinchinbrook Farm with funds to support our Summer Sensory Experience so that families who are new to this experience can learn and grow together over a weekend in August at no charge.
In addition to the $8 million that Jumpstart provided to support children in sports in Canada in 2020, Canadian Tire Corporation commitment an additional $12 million to Jumpstart’s Sport Relief Fund in 2021. We are one of about 500 organizations to receive funding. Together, we’ll all help build back communities through sport and play.
For more information about the Summer Sensory Experience and our other year-round programming, please visit other pages on our website such as: Summer Sensory Experience and Therapeutic Riding.
Hinchinbrook Farm Awarded Latham Foundation Grant
The Hinchinbrook Farm Society in Blockhouse, NS is the only Canadian recipient of a 2020 grant from the Latham Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education. The Foundation received almost 200 applications and awarded 35 grants. The Latham Foundation mission is stated as: “To foster a deeper understanding of and sympathy with animals, who cannot speak for themselves; to inculcate the higher principles of humaneness upon which the unity and happiness of the world depend; to emphasize the spiritual fundamentals that lead to world friendship; and to promote the child’s character through an understanding of universal kinship”.
The Hinchinbrook Farm Society is a non-profit registered charity whose prime objective is to provide a therapeutic horse back riding program and other outdoor recreational activities to support the physical, mental and emotional well-being of persons with disabilities. Its main clients are families with autism. Its main programs include individual therapeutic riding and group/family Ther-A-Playdates.
The gist of the Hinchinbrook application for the Latham grant was that both the horses and the clients are shown how to treat each other with respect and love for both their abilities and their challenges. The Hinchinbrook methodology includes the “theory of YES”, which means that we allow the children, as part of their therapy, to self-direct within the range of activities they make available and within the boundaries of safety. Each child has a volunteer shadow who ensures that the experience is always fun — more of a game than therapy — and always safe. When on the horses, there is a trained person leading and a trained person side-walking. The child not only helps to prepare the horse for its lesson by grooming and tacking up whenever it is physically possible, he or she also is encouraged to praise the horse and provide post-lesson treats. This is actually part of the therapy, since it encourages speech where often that is a challenge for the child, it pushes them to test their physical limits when for some even grooming is difficult and it also demonstrates that we need to respect and care for the animals that help us in our daily lives.
Hinchinbrook Farm has been described by some parents as their “fantasy island” where they can watch their children enjoy their time while the parent gets well-needed rest from the constant high-level care that some of the children require. It is an oasis of peace with which the Latham Foundation is likely very proud to be affiliated.
Sugar Foot To The Birthday Rescue During COVID-19
Sugar Foot, our newest miniature horse, has been trained to ride in the back seat of Patty’s truck and so has now become the focal point of several birthday parties which have had to be re-designed due to the physical distancing and non-bubble isolation requirement of the Nova Scotia government. One of the volunteers drives Sugar Foot to the birthday location and the family can have time with her, feed her snacks and have a special, memorable birthday or other family event. Sorry, couples, she is not licensed to perform weddings.
To arrange home visits, contact Patty at the farm (See contact page here>>)
For more information, see the Chronicle Herald article here>>

Lucia’s 10th Birthday visitor, Sugar Foot.
Chris Ulmer Presentation for Professionals
Hinchinbrook Farm is pleased to present Chris Ulmer of Special Books by Special Kids
during the Horse Boy Camp July 7-9.
Two Campfire presentations by Chris, starting at 8:30 PM.
Friday July 7 and Saturday July 8
Bring your own lawn chair. In case of rain, Chris will speak in the stable.
Twelve (12) seats are available each night for professionals working with special needs children
(example: OT/PT/SLP/PSY/PCH/SW/Teacher/Aid/DSW/Rec T)
Chris Ulmer for Professionals Registration
Error: Contact form not found.
Red Vermont Saga Continues
You might know that a couple of years ago, Patty rescued 2 horses from Cape Breton after their owner died. Apparently, they had been almost feral as they had roamed, uncared for, on their property for several years. They were both extremely undernourished and Red Vermont, the male, had a bone extruding though his hoof. Patty nursed them back to health and set up a crowd funding campaign to pay to have Red Vermont shipped back to the farm where he was foaled in the US. Unfortunately, Red Vermont died last year, but not before he passed on his genes. Here is how the owner described it:
Well, the Red Vermont story continues- on April 9th Quietude Taffeta foaled. She delivered Orion, a colt by Red Vermont. You may recall that while at Quietude, Vermont jumped the fence and got Taffeta pregnant. I brought her here in February, now she is raising a prospect for breeding and continuing the Red Vermont legacy.

“Free Reins” Documentary on CBC
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: FIRSTHAND — FREE REINS.
Hinchinbrook Hosts Paint Night and Silent Auction
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.
Billed as “Paint Nite and Silent Auction”, the event also featured the auctioning of seven themed baskets that were filled with donated items. The pre-auction value of the baskets ranged from $110 to $370. The other major source of revenue was the entry fee paid by each of the 80 participants.
“The evening was a huge success that netted more than $3,000 for the farm and children with special needs,” said Carolyn Collicutt, president of the HFS. “The society and I want to express our heartfelt thanks to the artists who first paid the price of admission and then bid on the baskets; to local business and individuals who contributed items for the baskets or donated food and drink; and to the local musicians who freely gave of their time to help nurse the creative muse.”
The evening began with a reception during which the artists snacked, drank, chatted and browsed through the baskets. MC Pat Hirtle then introduced the professional art teachers from Paint Nite™ who supplied canvases, paint and brushes and guided participants through the completion of their paintings. While painting, the artists simultaneously became the main event and the audience as they listened to the music of Stephanie MacLeod, Tim Worthington and Clas Larsson.
Hinchinbrook Farm is Canadian registered charity located in Blockhouse, NS. Under the guidance of Program Director Patricia McGill, it offers therapeutic riding, Horse Boy Program, and special events for children with special needs and their families. The farm’s website is www.hinchinbrookfarm.com.
Blues Night Benefit Concert
On CTV: Autism Summer Camp
Sponsored Summer Camp
3 day sponsored camp for families with autism — July 8, 9 & 10, 2016
Sensory Input | Movement | Horses:
- An autism friendly environment where children are allowed to choose activities
- Each kids has a mentor who helps keep it safe
- Sensory experiences provided by activities and games, toys and critters are designed to help easier processing.
- Back riding or long lining with the horses or any rocking movement which produces the joyful hormone oxytocin and eliminates the melt-down hormone cortisol.
- Movement Method of learning by doing (instead of teaching) while playing games and doing crafts.
- Perception Taking – Theory of Mind games and discussions around the campfire, in the woods, on the trampoline or while riding.
- Self-advocacy practice at all times with trained mentors so children can learn to speak up for themselves.
What to expect and what to bring
- Nutritious snacks and meals prepared on site with the families and staff. Any special diets require that the parents bring their own food.
- Some Camping gear provided if necessary otherwise families are expected to bring their own tents sleeping gear and personal effects.
- Use of screen devices is discouraged but understandably required at times for communication with staff on the property and the outside world.
- Activities include water play, Springfree™ Trampoline, Painting or chalk art, memory and sensory games, climbing, swinging, music, crafts, bread making, horseback riding, goat herding, campfires and what ever the kids come up with.
- Special Guest Chris Ulmer from Special Books by Special Kids will be visiting and taking interviews.
You might know him from this video (or the Facebook page he created for his students.)
He is also the keynote speaker at this year’s National Autism Conference.
Autism is not a Problem it is an adventure
Hinchinbrook Farm programs are designed to work with a few autistic families at a time on a small 10 acre hobby farm on the South Shore of Nova Scotia in Lunenburg County. This sponsored camp is maxed with three families.