Long term/ community life.
Spend some time at THR and you will soon realise that we are more than a passionate community of like-minded people. We are a family. First impressions may be of chaos, but we are all working together to achieve the same goal. To provide a loving, safe environment for horses and other animals on the island of Tenerife. We welcome you to our organised chaos. Everyone here is willing to muck in and muck out. From helping in the office, to cleaning out the animal’s stables, there is always something to do here. It’s hard work at times, but also very rewarding! If you would be interested in joining the “finca family” you don’t have to have any experience working with animals, but we do ask for a keenness to learn and willingness to get your hands dirty!
How it works
The minimum required stay for volunteers is between 1 and 3 months, depending on the position you are applying for. Food and basic accommodation is provided, in exchange for 25 hours work per week and a couple of hours working towards the community (cleaning mainly). It’s rustic & basic but comfortable and we provide everything you may need for the duration of your stay. We cook most of our meals together, have a cleaning rota as a community and everyone is encouraged to take part and do their bit! To really enjoy the experience here you must be happy to live in a very modest and sustainable way. This is not a place for modern comforts or parties, this is a place to connect back to basics and nature.
During your stay at THR, you are guaranteed to make lifelong friendships - not only with humans, but with the animals too! If you’d like to apply to become a volunteer have a look at some of the positions we have in our team, this list is not extensive and if you think you have other skills that would help our sanctuary please complete the application form below and we will be in touch! (Please note that unfortunately we may not be able to respond to every application. Due to a huge quantity of applications and as our entire team is run by volunteers sometimes we do not have the office volunteers to offer a response to everyone)
Horse team- Obviously this is a common position however the availability does not come up that often due to long term volunteers. Due to the amount of work that needs doing to work here with our rescues you must have experience with horses but be open minded to different environments/ cultures of horsemanship and force free training. You also must be able to commit to a minimum of 3 months. For short term horse experiences or for a learning horse experience please check our short term stay
Smaller animals- This is another position that we have many applications for due to the nature of working with animals. We also ask for a minimum of 3 months commitment to work with the small animals (everything from pigs to guinea pigs). We usually ask that you split your time doing other tasks such as in the kitchen or office so that we can share out the animal positions to multiple volunteers. Ensuring we have more options to work with animals and keeping a balance of fairness for all volunteers.
Building team- We almost always have availability for skilled builders/ handymen/ labourers/ physical hard workers without experience willing to make compost, heavy lifting etc. Basically if you are happy to work hard physically then we would love to hear from you.
Office team- If you are happy to join our dynamic office team which is secretly the heart of the sanctuary we would love to hear from you. Whether it is to help with social media, answering the phone, emails, administration, giving tours of the finca, translations or content creating we usually have space for you to join the team. No experience required just a passion to help us grow and willingness to work under pressure and in the office. Our sanctuary is 100% funded by the office so this team is vitally important but often forgotten.
Video makers - technically part of the office team but with a specific role that must have experience. Do you know how to edit videos and would like to help us grow our successful youtube channel? We need you. This position almost always has availability. So get in touch.
Drivers/ food collectors- If you are over 25 with a driving license (insurance reasons) and are happy to do heavy lifting. We have space.
Gardening/ permaculture/ natural building etc - Do you have skills that are missing from our team that would help our sanctuary then we would love to learn from you too.
You don’t need to have specific skills to come here, the most important thing is a pasion for animals and sustainable living. If you want to get involved, work hard and help our sanctuary grow we want to hear from you. You can help us in various areas including: cooking, cleaning, showing around visitors, helping in various areas.
