Empowered Equines
273 Cider Hill Rd. York, ME 03909
Our program aims to be a special part of our local community, providing education about ethical animal keeping. While we take many animals in need, including donkeys, sheep and ponies/minis, we try to focus on draft horses – animals frequently left behind or overlooked by other rescue organizations. With the combination of volunteers, students, and staff we work to rehabilitate the rescued animals physically, emotionally, and behaviorally. With proper medical care, nutrition, and enriched daily lives, our animals thrive. From here we work on behavioral rehabilitation and training enrichment with positive reinforcement.
Daily Chores: (we will help find chores that are right for you)
| AM Hay | Extra things to do: | |
| AM grain + soup | Sweep | |
| Turn out (weather dependent) | Organize brushes/toys | |
| Let out Chickens + Ducks | Pick paddocks | |
| Water (inside + outside if needed) | Clean feed or tack room | |
| Clean stalls | Set up agility obstacles | |
| Train animals (weather dependent) | Clean hay loft | |
| Clean up around farm | Clean chicken coop | |
| Lunch Hay | Tend garden | |
| Turn in | Repair fences | |
| Bring in Chickens + Ducks | Groom animals | |
| Top off water | Graze horses | |
| PM Hay | Build obstacles | |
| PM Grain + soup | Weed whack | |
| Make/give enrichment toys |
EE Expectations:
| Kindness is our foundation | Ask for help when needed |
| Speak with kindness | Provide help when asked nicely |
| Ask before going in with an animal | Ask if you’re unsure about anything |
| Reinforce good behavior | Avoid running, shouting, or frightening the animals |
| Share your thoughts and feelings, we want to help | Put tools away when done |
| Leave things nicer than you found them | Put trash in the trash barrel/recycling bin |
| Clean up after yourself | Dump your own muck bucket |
| Train in pairs | Avoid using punishment |
| Wear weather appropriate clothes (closed toed shoes) | Watch your fingers and toes! |
What is Positive Reinforcement?
Positive Reinforcement (R+) is a fancy way of saying we reward good behavior. We encourage a behavior to happen more by adding something the learner likes. With horses, we feed them a treat when they do behaviors we ask for. We use a smoochy sound to mark the moment the horse did the right behavior, so they know why they’re getting that treat. For example, we ask our horse to back up and make a smooch sound when they do the right thing, then feed them a treat.
This is a kinder way to communicate with our horses which behaviors we want them to do and when they’ve done the right thing. We do not push, pull, hit, kick, smack, pinch, flick, or otherwise upset our animals here. We ask nicely with cues we have taught (we will teach you these) and reward good behavior. This makes it fun for the horse to want to do the things we ask.
No Punishment?
Instead of using punishment we try to set our animals up for success. We use food, toys, barriers, and set up the environment to make it easy for our horses to do the right thing and difficult (or impossible) to do the wrong things. We will show you techniques to empower the animals and safely avoid needing to use punishment.
