Conversations with Vollie Heitkamp

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vollie Heitkamp.

Hi Vollie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstory.
As a child, I loved horses; I stepped into horse ownership at age 10 and have had a life with horse ownership since then. As my interest grew, I explored various activities that one can do with a horse. I ultimately landed in the show ring of the pleasure circuit, showing in the all-around category. Naturally, as a young person growing into an adult, my love of horses never changed, but the natural flow of seasons of life shifted, and as they did so, the way I did life with horses shifted as well. As I entered the full-time workforce, got married, and started a family season, I began enjoying the process of putting a foundation on young horses and preparing them for others to take in whatever direction they wanted to pursue. This allowed me to explore and further develop new skills while using my existing skills to benefit the horse and future owner while being fit for that season of life, my personal life. In this process, I began feeling a nudge to contact the local 4H clubs to offer volunteer support in the equestrian program. I had a solid 4H background, and from my experience, the new 4H offered a wonderful entry-level space for horse enthusiasts to begin exploring this area of interest. I also knew that 4H is often powered by parents who are aiding in supporting that process, and I thought perhaps there was a layer of support I might have to offer. I was unsure what that looked like, but I felt a nudge, so I pursued it in the spirit of a genuine desire to contribute and give back if I had something useful to them. This pursuit led to becoming involved with 4H kids through an annual camp that the 4H would put on for members. I was asked to lead the pleasure section of the camp, helping youth work with their horses to develop and inspire an interest in the craftsmanship of horsemanship further. This leads to families reaching out for private lessons and training for themselves and their youth. I blinked, and I had several private clients. Life was full, and I was grateful for the opportunities to support and share my interests with others who desired to grow in the space. Then, one day, while sitting at my desk at my full-time job, I received a phone call from a friend who was organizing a benefit for a co-worker; she had inquired about my assistance with reaching out to some folks for silent auction items as she shared, I had a nudge to offer a private riding lesson to the list of the auction items. Little did I know then, but my heavenly father, who knew my heart, was working and preparing opportunities that I did not yet understand or even remotely have on my radar.

A few months passed, and I got a call from a woman who introduced herself and told me that she had purchased the private lesson at the auction and desired to set up a time to redeem it. We set a date. The family arrived at the barn for the scheduled lesson time. The family had no previous horse experience. We had great fun at the lesson, allowing them to experience life with horses. As we wrapped up the lesson, the mom looked at me and said, “When can we do this again?” This, my friends, is the part I was unprepared for. I was happy to offer a one-time lesson to support a fundraising initiative. Still, I had no interest in my horse being used as a schooling lesson horse, as using a personal horse for lessons and running a lesson program on personal schooling horses is a very different thing than providing instruction and training to families who already have horses and have stepped into horse life with a different level of commitment. In full transparency at that moment, I was thinking – No way, as I had no interest in that type of horse lesson arrangement, yet that still, small, soft voice nudged me forward by inspiring my spirit and not my flesh. It was in short order that I began to add this family to my horsing assignments. With these individual experiences, my spirit started to see things through a different lens. I was having experiences that, while I didn’t necessarily understand them, I knew that they were purposeful, so in humility and with a growing gift of discernment pressed into.

By 2006, the previous 3 years, as shared above, began to accelerate into an expanded nudge. I had reached a point where, whether or not I understood it, I knew I was being presented with an opportunity to move in faith and in obedience to accept a calling. I was a good sport about it. Let’s say I am human, and my flesh likes to present itself and fight with my spirit, and it still does today 15 plus years later, but at the end of the day, the spirit in me prevails with each passing debate. In 2006, I began the process of starting a non-profit organization 501 c 3 with a mission to partner with horses and ranch life to create opportunities that would operate to empower, equip, and encourage people in excellence to step into the fullness for which they were created. I learned firsthand from my own life and experienced a powerful partnership I had with the equine and how that had been leveraged to draw me to faith and a calling that honored my love of the equine and my heart for excellence and walking in our God-given giftings. I had no idea how, but I knew without a doubt I didn’t need to; I just needed to step forward in faith and obedience. It is now 2024, and wow, what a journey it has been. Each step of the way is simply walking in obedience through discernment fueled by faith and prayer. It is our deepest privilege to operate an outreach that partners with a ranch-based platform that creates opportunities to work with horses and other aspects of ranch life and creation to walk alongside individuals and families in the desire to encourage, empower, equip a spirit of excellence with a desire to walk in the fullness for which were created. Over the years, HR has built several programs centered around the horse and homesteading lifestyle categories with the intent to use the ranch and every component of the lifestyle to explore and teach valuable life skills/principles that seek to encourage, equip, and empower people to walk in a spirit of excellence that inspires them to walk in the fullness for which they were created. To date, we have several programs within each category, and it is great fun to watch the kids engaged in the process of learning and all the remarkable moments of growth and sparks of possibilities that are birthed through genuine exploration of interest and having a place where that is supported, celebrated and explored.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Fantastic Question. The real challenge in that is as much in the condition of being a human as it is to external circumstances as we perceive them and ourselves in them. My experience has been that often, the challenge is between my spirit and my flesh, and then comes the external variables of the world. Either way, each new step presents new opportunities and new challenges. It has been a wonderful opportunity to embrace each new “circumstance” and learn and grow. Our outreach is labor intensive, and the daily operating costs associated with animals and property are an ever-shifting reality. One of the biggest challenges is balancing true outreach and running programs while managing the fundraising side of the outreach. We have diligently stayed focused on the service component and worked diligently to be effective in what fundraising we can do. Others will come alongside us in the various ways needed to meet the financial needs to run the program. The secondary challenge has been volunteer skill sets. There is a balance here between individuals who seek to volunteer and have the desire to be around horses and youth who don’t have the necessary skills needed to do that to the degree of skill that is required to do life with horses; we have built a strong mentor mentors training program, but again all of these things take time, and the human onboarding and training is a significant outlay for a non-profit to take one amid operating day to day programming and funding needs.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I work full-time at Hope Rides as the Executive Director. Before starting the non-profit, I worked as a business analyst for a manufacturer of consumer goods products. Additionally, I worked in the fitness industry as a group fitness instructor and program designer for physical fitness and health-related goals.

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Being interested in something is powerful. If you are interested in something, you will typically be curious and inspired to spend time learning and seeking out opportunities and others who are also interested. If you’re interested, there is a long-standing desire to continue to learn more and seek out others who are also interested. As you walk into this pursuit of interest, you typically become more knowledgeable and likely skilled at it. If your interest leads you into craftsmanship, people will find you for the knowledge and skill you have developed through that pursuit of interest. And in that pursuit, doors open that could not open without the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge and skill.

Pricing:

• Average Annual Cost to Care for a Horse $4500.00
• The average cost to acquire a suitable horse for the program is $7500
• Average day-to-day operations Volunteer Hours weekly 45
• Average daily program/services 6 hours per day
• Number of youth served weekly 90 youth/families per week served

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hoperides.org
• Instagram: hoperidesmn
• Facebook: Hope Rides

Image Credits
Shelley Paulson Photography