08/23/2026
❤️ Man, are we going to miss this crew.
One of the coolest things about our summer Workforce Alliance program is getting to see the full circle.
For these young people, GAIT is their very first job. They arrived not quite knowing what to expect and spent the summer learning how to show up, work as a team, care for horses, take responsibility, tackle projects, and figure out where they fit.
And then there were the familiar faces—Workforce kids from previous summers who went off to college and came home to work at GAIT again. ❤️
That might be my favorite part.
Watching someone start here as a teenager in their first work experience and then seeing them come back older, more confident, more capable, and ready to help teach the next group is pretty special.
This crew did EVERYTHING, horse care, grooming, tack cleaning and organizing, barn projects, events, cleaning, moving things, grounds work, and whatever random project we managed to dream up that day. 😂 They worked alongside our staff, volunteers, participants and veterans, and somewhere along the way they stopped feeling like a summer workforce team and simply became part of GAIT.
The work they accomplished mattered, but watching them grow mattered even more.
To our first-year crew: we hope this was the beginning of something great.
To the ones who came back to us: thank you for coming home. ❤️
And to all of you—thank you for giving GAIT your summer. You left this place better than you found it, and it is going to be way too quiet without you.
Don’t be strangers. Once you’re part of the GAIT family, you’re kind of stuck with us. ❤️🐴
