The objective of Hinchinbrook Farm is to have one trained volunteer coach working with each child who is at the facility.  Much of this time is spent on or with the horse.  (Some of the horse-connected activities include games that require the child to give verbal commands to the horse, who is trained to respond to verbal and hand signal commands.  This promotes the use of language with children who often do not communicate verbally.)

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​Most of the volunteers are teenagers who are perhaps going to pursue social work or psychology as a career.  Since they eventually graduate from high school and leave for university, there is turnover every year, requiring the constant provision of training in the therapeutic riding techniques to about 50 volunteers annually.

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​This requires 54 hours of clinics plus from 5 to 25 hours per volunteer of personal training mentoring.  Since most volunteers are high school students, we see them for 4 years at most, and then they leave for university. All those who have left have gone onto amazing lives with gifts and skills uniquely acquired here at the farm.  Because of their volunteer work here most students go on to study teaching, or health services. 

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Those emerging citizens who start volunteering as teenagers will always contribute to a better community for having had the support and tools to learn how to be sensitized to the needs of others.

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HFS gives these students a tremendous start in their lives through the training they experience with special needs families and horses.