Our Purpose:
To provide a safe and nurturing environment where healing and learning can take place. People thrive in an environment where every success is celebrated and trying new things is exciting and fun. Partnering a horse with a student, allowing them to build relationship and engage in meaningful ways allows both to experience something wonderful and powerful.
Our Philosophy:
We believe that an experience with a horse can be life changing. We focus on three powerful concepts:
1) Learning the language of the horse
2) The right learning environment
3) Promoting the freedom for an individual to learn at their own pace. This combination powerfully builds leadership and problem solving skills, while lifting self-esteem and exercising the whole body. Communicating with respect and honor with each other and our horses is key. Our heart is to help someone know that they are highly valued as an individual. We are delighted at the opportunity to get to know them.
Our Past:
We began in 2007 working with 2 horses and 2 ponies and a handful of very special students who gave us the realization of how powerful working with horses could be.
In 2009 we achieved our non-profit status, 501(c)(3) which allowed our Big Star family to grow with donations to support our students who could not afford services and helped us to grow our herd.
In 2011 our covered arena was completed, which allowed us to be open in all weather conditions. We grew exponentially! Next came the Rising Stars leadership development program, foster kids individualized programing, adult therapy and natural horsemanship training, we continue to add to our offerings with relevant topics, character building, horse training and experiential learning.
The barn and arena continued to expand as our student base continued to grow. In April 2020, we moved to a new larger location in beautiful Molalla, Oregon.
Our Present:
Every year we see lives change and continued growth in those who come through our program. The word is out about how working with horses helps the heart of a hurting person. We serve students of all ages and abilities.
Big Star Ranch is committed to building relationships with local vendors, service providers, churches, mental health professionals, DHS and other agencies, plus volunteer and fundraising organizations. We value those partnerships and believe in community involvement.
