Staff

I seem to be attracting the best people to work with. Let me give you a guided tour into the staff structure and the culture we are cocreating.

Trek Support-This is an essential role which sets the trek guide up to focus solely on the riders. This is achieved by managing the preparation of the horses, their gear and safety equipment for each ride. Penny Harrison has been with us as our first official Trek Support Person since May this year. Penny is just as solid as a rock in her role. She teaches new trek Support people. More recently Abbie Ricketts, and Sarah Gorman have joined us.

There exists a natural progression through the ranks to Trek Guide then Chief Trek Guide. Each staff member has learning objectives and timelines for progressing. Annette Smith and Heather Hood are trek guides. Kristine Wilson is the Chief Trek Guide at Otahuna, and Cathy Johns is the Chief Trek Guide at Mt Lyford. This role involves coordinating the rides, chosing horses, and trails, and leading the treks.

Our staff philosophy is that employees are built up in their own lives by the work they do, and what they learn in the horse treks. Horses insist on many qualities from us that enable us to become more whole as people. Some of these qualities include being real, honest, respectful, fair, discerning, sensitive, safe and couragous. So we put these ingredients to good use by encouraging a staff culture that supports this development in us all. Every Wednesday morning is devoted to staff meetings and training.

Staff at Otahuna
Staff at Mt. Lyford