Sabine's Smiling Horses in Costa Rica
Volunteering
Our
stable
Sabine’s
Smiling horses is an established riding stable since 1999 in Monteverde. In
many guidebooks, you can read that we are well known not only for the quality of
our horses and the diversity of our tours, but also for the special care we show
all of our customers.
We
are constantly improving the quality of our services for our riding guests.
Our volunteers participating in our place help us with their input too.
Our
farm is located 2 km outside of the village of Santa Elena, where we can see
toucans, toucanettes, motmots, bellbirds and parrots. We ride on campesino
trails that offer excellent views of the Pacific Ocean and the stunning local
landscape.
We have been providing safe and enjoyable experiences for families and riders of all ages. We take pride in the special care and attention we give to all of our customers, especially children and first-time riders.
Location
Monteverde in the mountains at 1100 m above sea level and a jacket at times is needed, since weather can be chilly at times. Raining season is between October and November all the way through. Monteverde is 3 ½ hours from San Jose. The farm is about 20 min walk to the village or $ 2 US by taxi. In town there is Internet connection as well as night activities.
Monteverde is a well-known tourist area that provides several private Reserves in the Cloud Forest, Canopy tours, ATV, hanging bridges, butterfly garden.
Home
stay
There is space for 1-2 volunteers at the time and share the house with the owners in a family orientated environment. The owner is German and her daughter is 6 years old.
The cost for a private room, including 3 meals a day is $ 100 US per week, laundry and local phone calls included. Volunteers are expected to help with some basic things at the house. The bathroom is shared. As the volunteer gets to guide they have plenty of opportunities to get tips of our riding guests. We also include the volunteers in some of our private activities to get more involved in local activities. If we can manage to safe them a way by taxi or walking we arrange transportation at no cost.
During time off it is a nice place to hang out on the farm. People love the spirit on our farm. Warm hearted, welcoming and open.
Job description
Basic horse care such as cleaning fur, hoofs, washing the horses and cleaning the stable, feeding, saddle and unsaddle the horses are necessary or changing horses between different fields. The project is suitable for horse lovers and people with experience with horses.
Volunteers are having the benefit to ride and guide 2 and 3-hour horseback riding tours and combination tours to some waterfalls.
We maintain around 10 ha of field in different places and sometimes there is needed to be done some work in the field or grass that need to be cut, which we need to load and unload from the trailer.
Some volunteers also like our other farm animals and like feeding the rabbits, ducks, chicken, dogs and cats or like to share some cooking adventures.
Depending on the skills of volunteers we do also work on some projects to improve the quality of the riding stable or work our young horses on the ground.
Working hours
We do not have fixed working hours, since we are depending on tourism. There are always days to take off. Mornings or afternoons as well depending, if there are tours to be done. This flexibility can sometimes be annoying, but also interesting and challenging. All other work is usually talked through on a day-to-day base about 4 to 5 hours a day, during the time from 7 AM to 4 PM. Sundays always can be taken off.
Volunteering
time
Minimum
volunteering time is 4 weeks, better is longer. Some volunteers stay up to 3
months. We are open for any time above that too. We do take the first week of
stay to see, if volunteering with us is benefit able for the both parts.
at Tel: 506-2-645-6894 or 506-8-385-2424 Fax: 506-2-645-7894
