Giddy-Up Internships!

Internships at Sunnyside Farms

 

Sunnyside Farms offers internships for individuals who strive to “live the dream” each summer. This is an adaptable opportunity for those entering a competitive business environment where field experience, people skills and technical mastery all matter. Our further priority is to assist people who are faced with social challenges associated with autism, so as to help them mainstream into the workforce, using the horse as their vector. We provide positive and rewarding opportunities through which they can focus their energy and passion for horses while experiencing daily positive, rewarding and life-changing outcomes.  Additionally, we enjoy helping to make dreams come true.  Life after retirement offers the time and focus needed to take on “something new” and we can provide the experiences and skill sets needed to turn a “new leaf” and take a different path with horses!

Here in our small community of Clyde Park, our interns can gain the knowledge and insights to form the basis of a real economic foothold, while helping others to endure and overcome the setbacks of traumatic experiences, wounds of war, social challenges and depression. For breast cancer survivors and others facing life changes, the horses are an embodiment of aesthetic and spiritual relief.  Our interns learn about responsibility and kindness, happiness and hopefulness. We want them to know that our programs exist for them, on their way to their own meaningful and sustainable future, whether it be a career or a therapeutic hobby.

Our interns develop communication and business skills that are associated with handling clients and students; they encounter veterinary issues as they arise; and they are faced with challenging situations that test and provide feedback for good decision making, pro-active skill building and higher order thinking. They have opportunities to work with and teach students in an equine-assisted therapy setting, allowing them to express their own unique talents by way of helping others with special needs. Our structured environment balances independent work with set duties on a daily basis. We promote goal and task-oriented achievements using project based learning. These tasks may include exercising, training and grooming horses, daily feeding and care, and equine management and maintenance. 

 

 

If you want to know what life might be like as an intern at Sunnyside Farms, watch:

Come join us for Spa Night Under the Stars!  

Proceeds benefit our Giddy UP Internship Program!

 

Thanks to the participants and service providers of our Spa Nights,

you can now take a tour of our silo bunkhouse!  

 

Meet one of our 2024 interns! 

Our Student Interns Must:

  • Possess strong communication skills
  • Have horse knowledge or a desire to learn
  • Enjoy being around animals
  • Enjoy working with kids
  • Possess a fun-loving and positive attitude
  • Be willing to work hard in a variety of settings and situations (which may not always be horse-related)
  • Be open-minded to take on an array of tasks

  • Be available 7 days per week and commit to at least 4-8 hours each day (sometimes more in special occasions)
  • Be drug, alcohol, and smoke-free
  • Be able and willing to work independently
  • Be responsible and capable of living without a cell phone/internet when needed
  • Provide a school, church or community recommendation or referral
  • Have transportation daily (or stay at the farm)


Our learning begins in the summer and lasts a lifetime. During your time here, you will do many things!

Our Student Interns Can:

  • Gain and/or increase your horsemanship skills
  • Learn training skills
  • Improve your riding and driving skills
  • Learn how to evaluate horses
  • Have the opportunity to work with and around foals

  • Learn about and get hands-on experience with horse breeding
  • Groom, prepare and participate in special events
  • Help maintain and manage a horse farm (some things not so fun) both in the business and work sense
  • Gain college and/or professional credit hours

Our internship program is a win-win situation! We meet new friends and obtain invaluable assistance from your presence, and you score many, many benefits!

To name a few:

  • The opportunity to ride and or drive horses nearly every day
  • Learning very valuable thinking and processing skills – learning to think “outside the box” – in farm business and maintenance terms
  • Gaining new skills through our Farm Camp – by educating our next generation and being a positive example and mentor to youth
  • Obtaining credited towards college and/or professional certification

We feel that the Sunnyside Internship Program offers priceless benefits. If this is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for, wait no longer! Please fill out the simple application below. Applications due by April 15 prior to the season of interest (earlier applications are happily accepted). Internships begin as soon as May 20 and and can last as little as 45 days  or as long as 6 months.  Live-in positions recommended and preference will be given to those able to start early and be committed throughout summer. Please inquire about further positions available throughout the fall and winter.

APPLY FOR A SUNNYSIDE FARMS INTERNSHIP HERE