Home > Dream Job Holidays > LOPE Texas
|
Horse Adoption Agency Director
Horses: LOPE Texas, Austin, TX
|
Have an unbridled love for all things horse related? Do you dream about a job sittin’ up high in the saddle instead of hunkered down low at the computer? Would you love to trade in your workhorse schedule for one where you find work for horses? It’s actually possible! Grab the reins and head for Cedar Creek, Texas (only 27 miles from Austin!) for your very own Horse Adoption Agency Director VocationVacation with Lynn Rorke, founder and Executive Director of LOPE (Lone Star Outreach to Place Ex-Racers) Texas!
LOPE Texas is a ranch adoption facility devoted entirely to finding homes for retired racehorses. A non-profit agency, LOPE takes in donated, injured or at-risk horses. They are assessed, allowed to rest, socialize, given time to heal and then retrained. When these awesome former athletes are ready for adoption, LOPE carefully works to find them approved, non-race homes.
LOPE operates as a 501(c)(3) Texas non-profit. It is not a broker, nor does it receive any commissions from buyers or sellers. Since 2003, it has placed over 450 retired racehorses of all breeds into new careers – as trail horses, working on farms and ranches or just being beloved pets!
Along the way, LOPE has been embraced by the Texas racing community. For example, The Houston Equine Research Association (HERO) chose LOPE for a special grant, jockeys sport special LOPE patches and trainers seek out Lynn for adoptive homes for horses they love and respect. In turn, LOPE hosts educational clinics on horsemanship, equine care/nutrition and racehorse retraining.
Lynn is a long way from her East Coast roots and finance job in a Washington, D.C. suburb. But if you ask, she might say she’s back to where she imagined she’d be as a little girl. “As a kid, I spent a lot of time playing with plastic horses and rubber band bridles” laughs Lynn.
Lessons were expensive and so Lynn was in her 20’s before she learned how to ride. By then she was working as an office manager for a law firm. Time and riding options being limited, Lynn volunteered with park police, exchanging barn chores for riding time. She then offered to exercise polo ponies (many of whom are ex- racers).
She learned to love the sensitive, athletic natures of the former racehorses. “They just have a lot of heart” Lynn says, “and don’t deserve the bad rep they get as being too difficult once their racing days are over.” Forcing any retiring or injured athlete to forego all competition causes stress and disappointment and Lynn points out that it’s no different for an ex-racehorse transitioning from life on the track to being someone’s pet. The good news is that as the horses settle into their more sedate life, they usually just love it.
While volunteering at The Canter Group, an East Coast adoption agency devoted to placing thoroughbred ex-racers, Lynn learned the ropes on how to match owners to ex-racehorses. She continued working, finished her college degree and climbed up the corporate ladder to a job as Director of Finance for an economic think tank. But…..
“I found myself waiting all day to go riding!” chuckles Lynn, “Obviously, something was missing. It seemed like an impossible dream to quit my job in my late 30’s and go work with horses.” Her husband, Tom, encouraged her and after some soul-searching and world traveling, Lynn eventually reached the conclusion that it was now or never.
So they packed up, left D.C. and moved to Texas in 2002. Lynn started a chapter for The Canter Group and worked at horse-related jobs. In 2003, Lynn and Tom purchased a 26-acre ranch in Cedar Creek, just a half hour from Austin. Lynn decided to expand the agency into finding homes for ex-racers of all breeds, not just thoroughbreds, and LOPE was born.
Today, Lynn enjoys sharing her life and experiences with others. Success is based on focus on important things, not multi-tasking, and as Lynn suggests: “Instead of trying to spin a million plates with just a little progress, spin only 2-3 plates and make big leaps.”
LOPE’s current big leap in sight is to grow to several facilities across Texas as a way to accommodate their waiting list of ex-racehorses looking for homes.
Click here to see a story about LOPE Texas on KXAN.com
Click here to see a story that Lynn Rourke, Director of LOPE Texas, wrote for Texas Thoroughbred
Click here to see Vocationer Kelly Leonard's Photo Show of her VocationVacation at LOPE Texas!
During your Horse Adoption Agency Director VocationVacations dream job holiday, Lynn Rorke will lead you through some or all of the following activities:
- Assessment of new horses for disposition and job suitability
- Riding, grooming and feeding of horses
- Working with horses who are in the rehabilitation process
- Round-pen training and ground work
- Visiting barns at the racetrack
- Assisting vet and/or farrier on calls to the ranch
- Proper socialization for horses new to the herd
- Screening of potential homes and learning how to “match-make” owners to horses
- Horse facility upkeep and management
- Marketing horses for new homes
- Planning fundraising and promotion activities
- Web site outreach and updating
- Information on how to photograph horses for web site
- Not-for-profit start-up and management training
The Horse Adoption Agency VocationVacation experience includes:
- Three days of one-on-one mentorship in your dream job as a Horse Adoption Agency Director
- The ability to take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®), an online personality assessment designed to identify interests and skill sets
- The opportunity to participate in a total of one hour of pre- and post-VocationVacation career coaching from an accredited, affiliated VocationVacations career coach
- A pocket-size VocationVacations journal so you can document your dream job becoming a reality
- Light lunches with your mentor
Available: Due to Lynn's soon-to-be released book, Lope TX is unavailable until November 2008
Price: $1049 Per Person
Suggested Accommodations
 |
 |
Colo Vista Country Club |
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites
|
(Not included in the price of your VocationVacations Dream Job Holiday)
Other activities and tourist destinations while on your VocationVacations adventure:
Reservation, Cancellation, and Reschdeuling Rules and Conditions:
Full payment of the VocationVacations dream job holiday is required to
make a reservation. A $100 non-refundable fee is assessed if a
VocationVacations experience is cancelled or rescheduled prior to
14-days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday, based on the
approved availability of the mentor to reschedule. A VocationVacations
adventure cannot be rescheduled and is non-refundable if cancelled
within 14 days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday. Written
notification of cancellation or rescheduling is required in all cases.
In the US, Grounded Nomads, LLC and VocationVacations holidays
encourage all customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any
unforeseen expenses due to cancellation or rescheduling. In the UK,
Grounded Nomads, Ltd and VocationVacations holidays must require all
customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any unforeseen expenses
due to cancellation or rescheduling and provide verification of such
travel insurance to Grounded Nomads, Ltd. |
|
|
