A Little Believin’ Goes A Long Way

I have been a long-time customer and donor to AAE. My last senior horse passed away in April of 2025, and I truly missed the equine world after 35+ years of continuous horse ownership. When the opportunity came to volunteer at the AAE Used Tack Store, I decided this was my way to stay connected to the horse community and help this fantastic organization. Being a Store Lead has allowed me to not only assist customers, but also learn about all disciplines of horse tack. I’ve also been able to put my inventory management and operational skills to use in simplifying the saddle log book and helping to increase our social media presence by listing all our available saddles online. All the store leads do such a great job of keeping the donation cycle turning over into sales that benefit the rescue horses.

Who is your favorite AAE horse and why?

I have a crush on Toothless. He has such a fun and goofy personality.

What would you say to someone considering volunteering with AAE?

There are so many opportunities to make a difference. All skills are needed, and if you have the desire to learn, there is ample opportunity to make an impact. At the tack store, don’t be afraid if you don’t have specific knowledge of certain tack. You can easily research via the internet, ask another store lead, or ask the customer to show you a picture of the item they are looking for.

If you’ve never attended an outreach event before, don’t worry! No experience is necessary.

Volunteers are needed:

·     Saturday, August 15: 1:30-5:30pm (1 spot)

·     Sunday, August 16: 1:30-5:30pm (1 spots)

Volunteers will get complementary passes to the event and parking, so you’ll be able to enjoy the show before or after your shift.

If you’ve signed up, stay tuned, more info is coming very soon!

Please sign up here under “Outreach Activities”.

Thank you in advance!

Learn more about becoming an AAE volunteer below, and help us change lives, one horse at a time.

Come join the team! We need volunteers to help in the following ways (and more):

·     Outreach Volunteers: We have a few more outreach events coming up soon! If you like talking to people about horses and sharing your love for horses and AAE, join the Outreach Team to help represent AAE in the community. Experience with AAE is helpful, but not necessary. If interested, or you would like more information, please submit an interest form, here.

·     Special Projects Day: Saturday, September 5, 2026, 9:30a to 2:00p, AAE Pilot Hill Ranch: Help make a difference for the horses, volunteers, and AAE. Here’s a way to make a meaningful difference in the daily care of 50-60 horses and other animals, and the people that care for them. We still need to hang some freshly painted plywood on the horse shelters to help provide more shade this summer and better protection from the wind and rain this winter; prep for our new gate; and we always need help dumping manure bins (if you can operate a tractor). Those are a few of the projects we need immediate help with.

If you’re able to assist, please sign up here under “Facility and Special Projects”. New volunteers are always welcome! If you have any questions, please reach out to Mike.

·     Barn Volunteers: Volunteers are the heart and soul of AAE who come out to the ranch each morning and afternoon to ensure the horses and other animals get the love and care they need to heal on their journeys to good health and forever homes.

Help with caring for the animals is ALWAYS needed. Our feed and care shifts are 8:30a-12:30p and 3:00p-6:00p. Afternoon shifts are greatest need of assistance, but all of the animals and volunteers can benefit from more support during any shift.

If you are new to AAE and would like to help or would like more information, fill out a Volunteer Interest Form here (no commitment required when exploring). All new volunteers participate in a New Volunteer Orientation and Basic Safety Training, and no experience is needed.

If you’ve already been through Orientation, and you’d like to sign up for a shift, click here.

·     Facilities: Our facility is where our horses and other animals heal and begin to thrive. With 61-acres to maintain, there is a lot of day-to-day upkeep in ensuring our horses and volunteers have the best we can give. If you are a fix-it person or you like making improvements, especially for the good of the animals and the humans that help them, we have plenty fix-it projects, minor and major. If hanging gates, hanging plywood on shelters, improving fencelines, trimming trees, repairing plumbing, setting concrete anchors for shelters, operating a tractor, etc. are in your wheelhouse, we’d love for you to join the team that makes a better life for the horses and other animals that come into our care. New volunteers welcome! Let us know more about your interest here.

Sign up for small Facility Projects during any shift (e.g. mowing with garden tractor, weed-eating, small fence repairs, organizing tools/materials, emptying manure bins with the tractor, etc.). Advance communication (48 hours or more) will ensure we can plan ahead so we have materials, tool/equipment, fuel, etc. Reach out to Mike for planning, then sign up for a volunteer shift under Facility and Special Projects, here. If you’d like more information, submit a Volunteer Interest Form, here.

·     AAE’s Used Tack Store: Volunteers help turn unwanted tack and other horse and ranch items into funding for the horses at our store in Shingle Springs. If you enjoy working with tack, chatting with store visitors, organizing inventory, or simply supporting the horses and other animals at AAE, volunteers make the store possible. Help one day or on a regular basis. We have a backlog of tack that we need help processing!! New volunteers welcome, no experience necessary!

Store hours are 12:00p-4:00p, daily. Organize, talk with customers, decorate the room, promote the store, organize a tack drive, etc. There are many ways your participation helps raise funds for horses-in-need. Interested, please complete a Volunteer Interest Form, here, or stop by the store to check it out: 4050 Durock Rd #6 in Shingle Springs.

If you’d like to help in some other way, share your interest, here.