Equine Volunteer
Joseph's Dream Equine Volunteer Program
Surround yourself with the healing and inspiring spirit of Joseph’s Dream Stud in the silence of the African bush! Learn and sharpen your natural horsemanship skills, help raise youngstock, and assist with training and backing horses. Learn to truly live and train horses force free and with respect and experience the joy and freedom of this! Share this joy with like-minded people from all over the world and the children of the community and create moments of healing and awareness.
You will be involved in the daily care of 40+ Academy & Stud horses, our miniature horses and Alpacas and might also get to work with some equine rescues. Of course, you’ll have time to recharge, relax, enjoy guided safari rides, get creative and just absorb the beauty of Namibia's stunning nature, free roaming wildlife and our gorgeous horse family.
Learn to read and then communicate with horses in trust and joy with different methods like Liberty, Trust exercises, Clicker Training, Bodywork and more to truly connect force free!
You will be hosted either in our Volunteer house located on the best viewpoint of the farm and overlooking all the paddocks, stables & our wildlife waterhole or in one of our freestanding Lodge Chalet in our organic green village with the miniature horses and free roaming lechwee water antelopes as your direct neighbours. All our accommodation is a private room with king-size bed and each room with private toilet and shower.
(Please inquire upfront if you would prefer to stay in one of our chalets or the Volunteer House while joining our volunteer program.)
Our on-site restaurant is not only providing 3 delicious meals for you daily but can also cater for all vegetarian, vegan or food intolerance.
The minimum stay for the Joseph’s Dream Equine Volunteer Program is two weeks and the maximum length of stay three months.
Logistic and Prices
If you are interested in joining us here at Joseph's Dream and make your real hands on own African Experience please drop us an email with some info about yourself, a little bit about your experience level with horses and your motivation why Joseph’s Dream is the place for you to be at: info@josephsdreamstud.com
Helpful skills: Experience with horses (no must!) / people skills / experience with children / team spirit / kind spirit & a good heart ❤
If you are green with horses and come to learn yourself then what you need to be to apply is: An animal lover!
Prices for 2025: 869 Euro per week.
Prices for 2026: 959 Euro per week.
What's included:
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Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Supper, Water (fresh farm water from the tap, not bottled water), Juice, Tea, Coffee (please note that our restaurant can cater for vegetarian & vegan diet and food intolerances; please note that vegan diet is charged 8 Euro and lactose free diet 5 Euro extra per day on-site )
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Accommodation in our modern Volunteer House or Lodge Chalet, with private bathroom & cleaning & basic laundry service (washed not ironed)
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Training by our experienced Horse Trainer on side
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Visa, flights, travel insurance or vaccinations are NOT included in the program fees.
What's not included:
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Drinks (including bottled water)
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Special diets (see details above)
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Flights
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Visa
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Travel Insurance
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Vaccinations
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Airport Shuttle
Working/Activity hours: Your helping hand will be required on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, from 08:00 - 13:00 & 14:00-17:00. Every volunteer gets one training session or guided equine activity per day and is welcome to watch other volunteer lessons or interesting training sessions. Although we appreciate a helping hand with walking out horses on Saturday morning, in general weekends are off and there is also no training during the weekends. During your stay you can book a day safari at the nearby GocheGanas Game Reserve, our riding Safari to our signature Safari Camp or one of our 2 nights excursions out to Etosha or the Namib Desert. Please find all the details here in our excursion catalogue 2025:
Our daily chores are rotating chores during the weekdays and are for example: cleaning miniature horse, donkey, cow paddocks; grooming horses; taking horses for walks; cleaning tack; cleaning water troughs; Horses medical care; Pick Out Hooves; Halter Training; Feeding; children activities; etc
Please take note of our safety and behaviour rules that apply during your stay at Joseph's Dream. Thank you.
Modules that you will cover during your training program:
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Module 1: Our Foundation of JD Horse Training / mindset / stage of mind / bodylanguage / the 3 training energies
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Module 2: Our tools - develop feel / flagwork / groundmanners / be & become equal partners
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Module 3: Liberty - tricks & challenges
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Module 4: Bodywork & awareness / sharpen your eyes and senses
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Module 5: 'Parking' & riding / seat training / riding from feel / riding in nature
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Module 6: Reward-based-training / target training
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Module 7: Biomechanics / healthy movement / balance / in-hand work / healthy working on the circle versus lunging
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Module 8: Trusting techniques & mindful sharing / building confidence from true connection
Please note that, depending on the length of your stay, you get plenty of time in the saddle and get to enjoy outrides in the savannah that we are not a holiday riding camp. We are a training facility and our program always starts from the ground and our focus lies on building the connection! Our different modules build up onto each other and you will later translate into the saddle what you have learned and developed together with your project horse on the ground. Our focus in our training program lies on liberty work and connection. (You usually only get to ride for the first time in your second week during our program.)
Every journey is individual and unique. We do expect an open mind from our volunteers to feel into their own journey, the training that is required for their project horse and to be open for the incredible unique experience that will be waiting for you and a truly personal journey! We require from you to first connect with out horses from the ground and to build that connection before you live it in the saddle. Please also note that this is also a breeding stud and there are horses at different ages and training levels that we have to accommodate in the daily training program.
Your daily chores always start with helping the JD grooms to walk the horses out and finishes in the afternoon with walking them in again. Around the training lessons & demos the daily chores vary from paddock cleaning, mini grooming, water trough cleaning, keep horses fit on outrides, assisting with veterinary tasks, feeding, and other care taking. On Friday afternoons every volunteer assists with our equine assisted activities and creative classes for the kids from the nearby hostel at JD and if you are interested you can also volunteer to assist on other weekdays in the afternoons in the hostel itself (this is on offer but not obligatory).
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding our JD Volunteer Program: info@josephsdreamstud.com
