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Volunteer Spotlight: Jan Andersen
Volunteer Spotlight: Jan Andersen
Jan has been with Horses Help as a volunteer for 12 years, since the summer of 2010. She has worn many hats since then, including barn buddy, Saturday barn lead, Adaptive Riding sidewalker/coach/horse lead, Adaptive Horsemanship class coach, mentor for new level 2 volunteers, and physical therapist for mounted PT (hippotherapy) clients. Jan consistently helps with onsite special events and summer programs, and generously shares her time to fill in for class support when volunteer cancellations occur. Jan has a wonderful connection with the program participants, volunteers, horses, and staff at HH. We are immensely grateful for her partnership and amazing support!
Why Jan volunteers at Horses Help
"I love to work with horses, to help people, and to educate others, so HH is a perfect combination of those things! One of my guiding philosophies is that if you can't do the grunt work, you shouldn't take on a leadership role, so scooping out a stall well is as important as anything else done at HH."
~Jan
"I am so grateful that Jan was available to mentor me as I prepared to be a level 2 at Horses Help. Right away I could see that she views the horses as respected and cherished team members. We are there for the horses and clients — definitely not the other way around. Jan so clearly showed me and explained the Horses Help way for interacting with and handling the horses. She also let me fail as I worked to follow that process, but she didn’t make me feel like a failure. She pointed out my mistakes and gently corrected me where it was needed. I internalized what I should be doing through her guidance and correction. She is such an asset to the Horses Help team. I see that Jan is viewed as a cherished team member, too! Horses Help is lucky to have her."
~Mary
"Jan was an amazing mentor when I moved into Level 2 and horse handling. She is a wealth of knowledge and very supportive in my learning about horses and how to read them better. She is always helpful and made sure I had all the information in order to succeed. She truly is a great mentor and I look forward to learning more from her in the future!"
~Melissa
