ABOUT HINCHINBROOK
Our Story...
The Hinchinbrook Farm Society is a volunteer and non-profit based organization whose objectives are:
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To maintain and improve accessibility for respite & recreation at Hinchinbrook Farm (a facility for families with special needs children) observing risk management standards set forth by the Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association;
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To acquire by way of grant, gift, purchase, bequest, devise or otherwise, real and personal property and to use and apply such property to the realization of the objects of the Society;
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To buy, own, hold, lease, mortgage, sell and convey such real and personal property as may be necessary or desirable in the carrying out of the objects of the Society.​
The society shall not carry on any trade, industry, or business. All funds shall be used solely for the purposes of the Society and the promotion of its objects. If the Society is terminated, wound up or dissolved and after satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities there remains any property whatsoever, the same shall be paid to some other registered charity an organization in Canada having objects similar to those of the society.
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The Hinchinbrook Farm Society is a non-profit organization whose prime objective is to provide a therapeutic horse back riding program to support the physical mental and emotional well-being of persons with disabilities. Its main clients are families with autism.
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There are two main programs at Hinchinbrook. One is individual "therapeutic riding" and the other is a recreation-based and extremely varied series of activities we call “Ther-a-play Playdates” that is family-centred and usually includes several families recreating together.
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Activities at the farm are all out-doors, surrounded either by farm buildings and corrals or in the woods. A walk or ride through the wooded paths leads to a pea-gravel-filled dory (a locally used fishing boat design), equipped with sandbox toys. Further on there is a brook and small waterfall where the children can splash in summer and hunt for frogs or salamanders and watch the water or listen to natural sounds in other seasons. There is a pond that affords opportunities to fish, learn co-ordination skills with a radio-controlled boat (or just balancing on the floating dock) and in winter, skate. Other facilities include a spring-free and netted trampoline, a fire pit and a horse painting area where, yes, the children paint the horses.
At Hinchinbrook Farm everything is about the kids, the environment, the socialization, the fun. Our environment is all about saying yes and not about saying no! Every bit of the farm is developed for the kids. Our paddock is used as a social environment for kids with Autism! It has a campfire pit, trampoline, climbing fences, horse washing and painting station, chalk drawing station, horse tire swing, log jumping game, and lots of fun toys! It’s also a pretty popular spot for mounted hide and go seek. The paddock is fully fenced to allow horses to graze and just hang out with the kids as they play.
Let’s move on to the barn. The barn is not only the home and safe haven of our horses, it’s also used for sensory work in storms, learning about horse care; and it has an efficient tack/feed room. As many as 30 people can be comfortable inside on the main floor with the horses on a stormy day. There’s a downstairs pad for two horses, a storage area and a hay loft. The hayloft is a very popular spot to explore, climb or just relax and read a good book.
​​Our barn is also used for teaching. Kids can choose a hands on tack lesson, grooming lesson or cover the horses in stickers — labelling all their body parts. Kids can learn about measuring feed and supplements and they can help pick up the code browns in the horse stalls (commonly called “mucking”). Chores include sweeping, shoveling, wheel barrowing, vacuuming, watering, feeding and organizing.
​Next we have the pond. Our pond is home to a variety of wildlife, fish, frogs, ducks, and if you’re lucky you might be able to find a snail. Finding and observing these animals in there natural environment is a thrill for these kids, Often I have sat for over and hour at the pond with a child and found frogs and named them all, I believe we found a total of eight that day. The other thing our pond is used for is swimming, our volunteers love to splash around or use the blow up boats to play and explore. Parents are very involved in this activity and enjoy watching the smiles across their children’s faces.
​​One of our play areas is a little waterfall and brook. The waterfall is often used to throw plastic eggs down and capture at the bottom with butterfly nets. We also use the bottom of the waterfall for mud soaks. The brook is also pretty popular to ‘water hitchhike’ which means walking all the way down the brook to the bridge and pond. The kids often use their imagination to pretend they are jungle explorers.​​​
​The Riding Ring is used by a handful of riders. Depending on ability our riders learn to lunge, long line, trick train or play games. Our riding ring also comes equipped with brightly coloured ribbons, flags and letters to keep the kids interested as well as to aid in their riding.
The biggest area of Hinchinbrook Farm would have to be the woods. Our woods are used for anything and everything! Woods-wide hide and seek games are a pretty popular thing because of the large area. The first thing that is important about our woods is the trails. All of our trails are clearly marked with a color ribbon and each trail is either designed for riders with side walkers and leaders, or for independent riders. Each Trail also leads to play areas.
Our woods also holds our pea gravel boat, the boat has lots of trucks, shovels and buckets used for playing, and of course making things. The boat is surrounded not only by swings and brightly coloured ribbons but is also over-looking an excavation yard, a pretty popular sight for our young contractors-in-training.
The best part about the farm is all the room and freedom the kids have to learn, play and socialize. Often if we don’t have something at the farm we create it, the pasture can double as a soccer field, the kitchen can double as an art studio or a bakery. It’s all up to the kids as we follow their imaginations and let them be our guides.
History of Hinchinbrook ...
Hinchinbrook Farm was started by Patricia McGill in 2007 to provide therapeutic riding to mentally challenged children and specifically to offer family-focussed play therapy to families with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Ms. McGill was and still is a certified therapeutic riding instructor and had worked at this profession in Québec before moving to Lunenburg County. In 2010, she decided that to make the program work, it would have to be run by a registered charity, which she formed with the help of her original volunteer parents and community leaders (Hinchinbrook Farm Society). There is a volunteer Board of Directors. Patricia leases her personal hobby farm to the Society for $1 per year. To read Patty’s account of how Hinchinbrook got started, including the wonderful story of Colin, please click this link>>
The program has 4 therapy horses, and 2 miniature horses who are trained to pull a horse cart. The focus is on fun for the children, but all of the programs are designed to enable them to work through their disabilities and learn to cope with the world around them.
In 2018 the program had 51 volunteers and serves 40 children on the Therapeutic Riding Program and 25 families in the Pony Play-date program. This is twice the number who participated in 2012. (It is estimated that 1 of 68 children in North America have autism.)
The therapeutic riding program is only one of 2 in Nova Scotia registered with the NS Equestrian Federation.
Partnerships & Organizational Friends
Hinchinbrook Farm benefits from working with other organizations on or near the South Shore of Nova Scotia in providing services and care for those whose lives are affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder and other mental and physical challenges. Here is a partial list of the groups with which we have had recent involvement, sharing information, resources and sometimes activities.
Local
National/International
