Workaway Cultural Exchange & Internship Programs at TCTC

"Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible - the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family." - Virginia Satir

TCTC's Workaway program is as much about gaining, as well as offering, cultural exchange and learning opportunities so it’s important that we interact with visitors to build "family," team and community while they're here working with the horses, our facility, our language, art, nature, even our MUSIC or theater arts.

Hosts generally provide accommodation and food in exchange for 5 hours/day, 5 days/week enthusiastic help from Workawayers. We work together, live together, talk together, cook together, eat out together, provide time for those who want to, to bond with the horses they are working for; coordinate doing laundry and household chores together, and even travel together, sometimes with horses when possible, to share our state, people, culture and philosophies, with our visitors. In 2025, at least 6 Workawayers reciprocated by hosting THEIR FIRST 3 TCTCers!

From 2010 through 2025 Trillium Creek Training & Rehabilitation has hosted over 95 WorkAwayers, ages 9-70, from 9 countries in Europe including England, Scotland, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands, France and Italy;

Israel, Africa, Mexico, and the United States...

And requests are pouring in!

WORKAWAY PROJECTS ACHIEVED FOR TCTC

• Repairing/Painting barns and fences

• Building structures (horse shed, pump house)

• Harvesting Crops (nuts, apples, pumpkins, berries)

• Tilling/Planting/Weeding/Watering/Harvesting vegetable 2 gardens

• Power washing stalls, paths, mats, carriages, etc.

• Keeping barns clean

• Terraforming garden railroad train area landscape

• Carpentry to repair train bridge & build bench

• Applying landscape mulch around acres of gardens; hazelnut shell paths to discourage

slugs & provide safe footing around vegetable raised garden beds

• Horse training/conditioning/feeding/care

• Lunging or hand walking PPID and IR horses in pastures or on hilly trails 20 minutes/day

• Equine veterinary expertise/treatment

• Cleaning tack, tack lockers, shelves/cabinets

• Fire Prevention/perimeter weed eating

• Wildlife corridor trail preservation

• Water feature cleaning/repair

• Water hydrant repair/replacement

• Pasture & stall mucking; Sweeping

• Water trough refreshing/scrubbing & refilling

• Tack, carriage, harness, equipment cleaning

• Hay stacking, stocking, clean up

• Chainsaw felled trees into chunks or firewood; moving them along trails

• Bridge building assistance/support

• Retaining wall bank stabilization construction

• Big Equipment operation to till fire breaks,

field, yard and road mowing for fire breaks

• Picking up 10 acres of piles of yard/storm debris

• Perimeter electric fence repair, 10 acres

• Design & Construct supportive base to hold footing in 40' roundpen

• Constructing three 2- to 5-acre pastures and eight 1/4-acre electric fence turnouts

• Digging curtain drain, filling with drainage rock, and covering 40' roundpen interior

perimeter with hogs fuel footing

• Chunking Forestry burn piles; managed burns

• Provide musical entertainment and/or theatrical acting for special events

• Teaching art/craft projects at Youth Pony Camps

• Cooking, Housekeeping, Pet Care

• Big Pasture Shed Shelter

• Orchard Barn floor reconstruction/stabilization

• Stream steps/landing stabilization

• Ravine Bank stabilization

• Wildlife Corridor habitat/weed control/native plants only

• Bridge repair/replacement

• Trail challenges maintenance/new

• Garden Train amendment

• Barn adaptation/reconfiguring for residents, friends, medical issues, comfort, movement

TCTC Internship Program

Trillium Creek provides extensive experience for students wanting internships for anything from veterinary medicine, animal science, sociology, psychology, biology, art, teaching, forestry, public affairs, public relations, event planning, Nutrition, Business, Accounting, Marketing/Advertising, Agriculture, Animal Science, and more. If your university has a program, and you would like to intern at TCTC, we can provide your experience. Just have your school or university contact us by email and we’re happy to complete their forms for you to get started.