INTERVIEW WITH JOSE LUIS TORRES

INTERVIEW WITH JOSE LUIS TORRES

Vida y Esperanza and Club Hípico Trebol

INTERVIEW MAGAZINE TALENTOS Y MARCOS

Club Hipico Trebol is led by a professional horse trainer with 35 years of experience. His name is Jose Luis Torres, and he has trained professional jockeys, such as the well known  Oliver Parra, among many others. This Bolivian trainer has a special talent and technique. He combines psychology with his training of riders and horses in order to obtain a good relationship between the horse and the rider.

Although Jose Luis admits that new horse training techniques are needed in Bolivia in order to elevate the quality of such training, he explains how every horse and rider are so unique that individualized techniques are needed to obtain better results. These individualized techniques are used to increase one's skills in accordance with one's ability, by overcoming weaknesses.

Jose Luis not only works to ensure the wellbeing of the riders, but also does much to support the horses. Just as he does for the riders, Jose Luis respects the time the horses need to learn. He does this because he understands that a mistreated horse can be dangerous.

In the competitions, there is usually a lot of pressure, demand, and risk. Because of this, both the riders and horses spend time in training working on the psychological aspects of their character.

During the interview, I got the chance to meet Andrea, the adoptive mother of a young woman with serious problems of aggression and low self-esteem. Andrea's thankful eyes expressed her total support for Jose Luis and his project Vida y Esperanza. During the daughter’s training with Jose Luis, she obtained better self control, reducing her aggressiveness, and learned how to deal with the nature of situations by accepting their consequences.

Jose Luis and a Student

The outcome of Jose Luis's work could not be more positive. Through this training, the young riders obtain the tools to work and form a strong character. He emphasises that the characteristic that defines this work is a spirit of sacrifice.

Translation from Spanish by Sarah Young

THE FAMILY

Many of you already know about the work that Vida Y Esperanza is doing in Cochabamba Bolivia with at risk youth with their Equine Assisted Therapy Program.  This particular part of the program is designed to assist adolescents in crisis by addressing a number of mental health issues; behavioral problems, lack of self-esteem, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety, all issues which often end in drug and alcohol abuse in the urban environment. The program works with 10-15 youth, training them in the care of horses and horseback riding, while providing a safe alternative space to the streets.

Today we are blogging to tell you about 4 of the boys in the program. In 2011 two brothers Rodrigo (12) and Ariel (10) came to Vida y Esperanza to participate in the lunch tutoring program after they were referred by the director of their school. After assessing their living situation and the risks facing them from exposure to drugs and violence they became a part of the Equine Assisted Therapy Program that Vida y Esperanza has been running since 2007.

Rodrigo (now 16) and Ariel (14) soon became an integral part of the program. Since then they have become accomplished riders and hard workers caring for the 10 to 14 horses that make up the program. After a time we learned they have 2 younger brothers, Jamil (11) and Miquel (9) and they lived with their mother in a rented room nearby the horse pasture. Their mother worked selling bread from a wheelbarrow in the large market several kilometers from their room and was rarely home. Jamil spent his days at a traffic light doing handstands for spare change, and Miguel spent his days alone in the rented  room waiting for his brothers to return.

On May 27, 2014 tragedy struck when their mother was hit by a car. She was in a coma for several weeks, then regained consciousness for a few weeks (but never spoke again), and then on July 19^th her heart gave out and she died leaving the children orphans.  As no relatives immediately came forward to take care of the boys Jose Luis stepped in to the role of guardian. He found them a rented room 2 blocks from his house where they could sleep and shower. They eat and do their homework at his house under the guidance of his sisters and nephews and the four boys have become part of their extended family.

Miguel, Ariel, Jose Luis, Rodrigo and Jamil

Giving them the love, security and guidance they need has proven challenging for Jose Luis but he is very certain that they are now part of his heart. The harder part has been the financial strain of raising 4 kids. Jose Luis convinced a local school to give the boys free tuition if they can keep their grades up, a local priest bought their school books and neighbors donated furniture but he still spends more than $500/month out of his pocket. The bulk of this is for the room and utilizes $88, food $416, and school expenses $80.

In order to defray these basic costs we are looking for “god parents” who will pledge to donate money every month that can be used for these basic expenses.  Any amount is a great help and to make it easy you can set it up as a direct deposit into my account every month.

So please consider giving $10 or $20 or $50 a month to help these four boys.

To set up monthly payment or make a donation we are using an account in the US OR use the DONATE button to the right.

Bank of America

Name of Account Holder: Lee Cridland

Checking Account number:  009380862999

Routing # 021000322

Swift Code:  BOFAUF3N

Thank you!!!!!

Jose Luis, Jamil, Rodrigo, Ariel and Miguel!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Vida y Esperanza wishes all of you a very happy new year.

This year our resolution is to stabilize the program and try to get some real money into the project. With this funding we would begin 4 micro-businesses which would eventual cover a large potion, if not all, of the financial needs of the project. These micro-businesses would also give the youth who have been through the program and are stable a source of work and much needed job skills.

Our ideas are to:

1.      Trail rides

2.     Birthday parties with ponies

3.     The fabrication of halters, bridles and saddle blanket to be sold 

4.     Organic compost

All of these we already do to a small extent but to do each one well, we need an inversion of money to get us going. For instance for the fabrication of halters/bridles/blankets we need raw materials (strapping, hardware such as buckles, bits, cloth, thread etc.), an industrial sewing machine (could be used), work table and shelves, a small budget for advertising the products.

We have a written proposal for funders but have yet to find one that is interested. If any of you have any ideas for sources of funding lets us know at vidaesperanzacochabamba@gmail.com.

We also are trying to raise $1000 to buy 2 weed whackers so we can cut grass for the horses to eat in empty lots around town and survive the rainy season which is the hardest time for us as without an indoor ring we cannot give classes and therefore have no steady source of income. 

If you can help thanks (just click on the Donate icon to the right)but more importantly if you can pass this around to friends and family we would appreciate it.

Hi there, If you can help us out with sending Ariel, Rodrigo and Johanas to nationals just click on the DONATE icon.

THANKS!!!!

HEADING SOUTH AGAIN!

Boxes bursting with donations!!

Greetings from the US of A. Kathy and I have been here visiting family for the past 4 weeks. We head back to Bolivia, Jose Luis, the chicos and the horses in a few days. Visiting family and friends has been great but Bolivia is always in our minds as we realize how much a part of our daily lives Vida y Esperanza is.

Brianna sent the donated materials to my mother's so now we just have to see how much of it we can get back to Bolivia. We have over 20 saddle pads, 2 saddles, a few helmets, jumping vest and other clothing and some bridles!! Thanks so much Bri and friends!!!

Yeah lots of saddles pads!

So now we got to get this stuff South!

If anyone wanted to donate some money to pay the extra baggage fees that would be a big help.

Once we return we will be finishing up the second side of the seed room and will also need some donation to help with that. We are still about $800 shy of the money we need to finish it up.


Just click on the Pay Pal icon to the right to help out with the seed room or bag fees.

Thanks!!!

WOW I can't believe 2 months have flown by. We have been busy with 3 volunteers who came to help out. 

Enkhmend Gereltogtokh has been here for 8 weeks designing a new logo, developing a website and hanging out with David trying to figure out how to make gold out of horse manure (composting)!!!!!

compost class

Eliane has been here 8 weeks as well and has been putting final touches on a grant application so Vida y Esperanza can find a steadier source of funding. 

Brianna Zimmerman flew in and out of here in month but left behind many new friends and some great riding lessons. She goes to Stoneleigh-Burnham School  which has equestrian studies as part of their curriculum. She helped with fence painting and teaching; and in general was joy to have around and willing to pitch in anywhere. We and Brianna are hoping to deepen the relationship between the school and the project over the next year. 

She also collected used tack which will be great help! 

 

bri with geronimo

bri helping saddle up

 

bri getting ready for class

THANKS TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT AND GOOD VIBES!!!

We are still in need of support from individuals to help get the barley fodder system back up and running now that the cold weather has finally come to an end. If anyone can help out great and more importantly if you can pass the information on to friends who might be interested in helping please do!!!

TEMPS LOWER AND SEEDS SLOWER!

BLUE ROOM UPDATE...

Since we last posted a couple of weeks ago the temperature has taken a dive in Cochabamba to lows of 2C at night. This has slowed the sprouting process and sent Lee, Abby and Erin to the drawing board for ideas on how to insulate and raise temps in the blue room. We have seen some amazing things done with plastic bottles that could help. We are also facing attacks from birds and small rodents as they too look for food as we move into the dry, cold season.

We are not discouraged but just set back a bit and still needing some financial donations(approx. $500 in total) to finish up the room (more plastic to insulate, finish shelves and buy 40 more growing trays) and buy the pump we need to improve the seed watering set up.

If you can please click the Pay Pal icon and give.

To those of you who have already given thanks sooooo much.

IN OTHER NEWS..

We had another competition this past Sunday which went really well. Both horses and youth left with big smiles on their faces. Well okay maybe not the horses exactly, but the kids definitely.. Check out Rodrigo!

Jose Luis and his sister have been busy distributing material to schools and clinic about our Equine therapy Program and the riding classes. Here is the poster we got printed which was designed by Mia. Beautiful job, thanks so much Mia!

BACK TO SHOWING

Last Sunday while the sky was still black the boys head  to Blajot to ride Suerte, Pittu, Black Beauty, Valkirie, Distiguido and Payso the 10 kilometers to the country club for our first competition of the year. It was a great day filled with nervousness and laughter, as we scrambled around sharing clothes, helmets and even riding boots. Thanks to Richard, rifling through the stock he has at his riding school, we all looked handsome or in Mariana and Kathy's cases pretty, as we each took a chance at jumping.

In mini-jumping 0,70 cm Daniel and Miguel came in first and second!!!

José Luis giving them their ribbons.

Evey one else did just as well and below is a selection of some of our finest moments through out the day.

Sitting their basking in the Cochabamba sun, watching the kids puff up with pride as the completed the courses against horses twice as big and 20x as expensive, I could see why José Luis is so adamant that they compete and how much it means to everyone of them to get a glimpse of this world so far from their barrios.

THEY LOVE IT!!!

Jose Luis feeding our first harvest!

As you can see the horses love the barley fodder. This happy photo was taken by Dominik a volunteer from Switzerland who has been helping us over the past few weeks.

Justin and Mia Rock!

Hey everyone, we have been so lucky for the past 2 weeks to have two great Australian volunteers with us, Justin and Mia!! They have used their skills as a plumber and a graphic designer to help us move the seed room along and create some great promotional material.

You can see from this series of photos that Justin is getting the irrigation set up. We are having some issues with light and with water pressure but we are finally sprouting 8 trays to see how it goes!!!! Justin has been a life saver and so busy I don't even have a pic of him to post!

Irrigation tubes running into the trays

Funnels used to drain trays

Drain running out of growing shed

Our new hose and soaking buckets!

As you know from reading old post we have lost the $450 funding we had to pay the rent and buy a bit of food for the horses so the pressure is on! Fortunately we have a great team of support both in Bolivia and the US and we have been exploring a number of money making ventures.

1. Expand the Equine Assisted Therapy (EAT) program to paying client/private client. We have begun to offer the EAT privately with a beautiful poster that Mia is in the process of designing.We have 2 new children participating and their parents have been overwhelmed by the effectiveness of the therapy. Once we put a few more touches on the promotional materials we will be visiting doctors who work with children with disabilities to let them know about EAT and its effectiveness. In order to make this a success we need to print posters, business cards and leaflets.

Handmade bridles with donated bits.

2. Make halters and bridles to sell to other equestrian schools in the area. Jose Luis has done this in the past and it has been very successful. In order to get this moving forward we need a bit of capital to buy the webbing we make the halters from and bits for the bridles. This photo shows you an example of our work.

3. Use the horses on the weekends for trail riding. There are a number of beautiful spots around Cochabamba for trail riding and in the past the kids have made money to feed the horses by taking folks on weekend trail rides. In order to do this we need to be able to shoe the horses and get a poster (YES Mia is designing more than one) printed advertising the rides.

4. Finish up the seed room. This will lower food costs by 45%, from $9739 a year to $5322 a difference of $4417. With the latest financial problems it is even more crucial that we get this up and running. Since we last wrote another $150 has come in so we are $700 short of our goal.

So as you can read we are busy and we are trying to become more self sufficient and generate our own funding sources. We do still need donations to help with this so please, if you can hit the donate button DO.

If you want it earmarked for any particular thing just let us know and we will be sure to use the money as you would like. Please pass this on to friends and family if you can it helps us to expand our circle of donors.

Thanks Justin and Mia and all of you for your help and support!

HEADING UP!

The seed growing room at blajot!

Thanks Abby and Ann for the donations yesterday!!

Now we only need $849.20 to completely finish the blue seed room and $253.20 more to get Justin to set up the watering system while he is here!!

UP WE GO, DOWN WE GO...

Just a quick note to see if anyone can help out with the curent DOWN WE GO. The only stable funding source for the equine assisted therapy program has been terminated. Although it was only $450 a month it allowed us to pay the rent on the field the horses are in $150 and pay Jose Luis' a small salary $300.

We have come up with a 3 solid ways to raise the money:
1. Look for private clients for the equine assisted therapy program.
2. Use the ponies for birthday parties.
3. Start trail riding on the weekends for tourists.
4. Submit a grant to the Global Children´s Fund.
So we are working on these although numbers 1 to 3 call for a bit of capital in the way of money for advertising and shoes for the horses.

The current crisis makes finishing up the barley sprouting project even more crucial as it will reduce the costs of feeding the horses by 44%.  To date we have raised $970! Thank you all who have donated.

To finish we need to raise $996 more but most crucial is the $400 for the watering system so the volunteers coming at the end of March can set that up. 


If you can give anything $5 or $10 or $20 it would be put to good use!!!

WE SURVIVED RAINY SEASON!!!!

Things are good with the horses, they spent almost 2 months in the rain eating grass in abandoned lots around the city and many are a bit fatter than before. One of the ponies got badly cut and we are having to have a vet come everyday to keep him healthy.  Jose Luis has organized a soccer championship and the youth are playing every Mon, Wed and Sat nights. Turbo and Alejandro do an awesome job of heading up the horse care staff and are very proud of how well the horses survived rainy season. We are all working hard now the rains have stopped to get the horses and ourselves! back in shape.

Magaly giving out school supplies.

A number of the kids were helped out by the project with school supplies as so many of them drop out of school due to lack of money to buy what they need to complete their homework.

The blue room is still standing after the torrential rains and we are ready to get back to work and get this barley fodder (click here to see a facsimile of what we are setting up, of course, without Home Depot materials :)) system up and running. We have built 2 shelves but need one more as well as the watering system and a couple other odds and ends. We have found volunteers to donate their time to build the last shelf and have a plumber coming at the end of March who will donate his time setting up the irrigation system!! We are in good shape and could be up and running in mid-April!

To date we have raised $970! Thank you all who have donated.

To finish we need to raise the following:

Growing trays  $310
Shelves $150
Watering system $400
Pump  $100
Timer for the watering system $36

Total $996

If you can help give a click on the Pay Pal button and please pass this on to anyone who might be interested!!!

RAINY DAYS IN THE BLUE ROOM

Team work!

It is rainy season here in Cochabamba which means the hills turn a emerald green and the horses spend their days grazing in the empty lots around the city.

We are trying desperately to get the "blue room" done and the seed sprouting underway.

Erin and Manuel volunteering

 TGFV (Thank God For Volunteers)....Erin has been with us for the month and has been amazing in her tenacity for this project. She hails from Washington state and works as a chemist but has discovered she has a talent for building shelves with not very straight knotty eucalyptus logs! She and I struggled together after Micha left (another TGFV!) to figure out how the heck you put these things together!!

This week we have been moving quickly thanks to Manuel who is visiting Erin from Peru and Pinki who is  always ready to lend a hand. 2 shelves are almost complete and ready to be put into production! I have included some fotos of them workin in the rain in the blue room to give you an idea of what we are up to.

The first shelf!!!

We have raised about $900 and still need another $1000 or so to finish shelves, set up a watering system and get the seeds. Thanks to all who have donated we really appreciate it and to those who haven't been able to yet even $10 or $20 goes a long way so if your inspired hit the button to the right of this post.

Cielo and her foal

Hi there this is Lee in Cochabamba. I wanted to give an update on how fundraising was going to date and share some updated costs.

First we have a new addition to the Vida y Esperanza family!!! Geronimo a beautiful pinto whose mother is Cielo and father is Pittu. He loves to canter around after his mom as she works in the afternoon.

To date we have raised $560 (thanks!!!) which has been spent to buy wood to make our own funky shelves (we have finally found a volunteer to finish this work since Micah left!). We have dug the foundation our for the room (but still need funds for the foundations and floor approx $200). We have put a roof on and put up blue plastic tarps for the sides (still need funds to put up adobe walls which will allow us to better control temperature and humidity $340).

The room for seed sprouting under the trees

 We have found a plastic container that will work to fashion the growing trays. The containers needs to be cut and drilled and a plastic drain put in making the cost of each container is $7. We have bought 30 containers but still need another 30 ($270 we still owe $60 on the ones we just bought!). We are still playing around with how to set up the watering system and are estimating that will cost approx. $500.

So folks we are still raising money if you can help us out! Click that button to the right!

New Fodder System

         Hello everyone! Abby here. It's been a while since I've posted, but I'm so glad to see that the other volunteers have kept up the blog and taken advantage of all it has to offer. Being that it is the holiday season I wanted to bring up a very important issue for Vida y Esperanza... food. As I'm sure you have seen in pictures that have been posted, many if not all of the horses in the project are barely able to keep weight on. Currently the program struggles to find donors to help pay for food, since there isn't enough money to cover it from lessons Jose Luis gives to his private students. With 10 horses eating 6 kilos of food per day (a combination of grains, cereals, and alfalfas) the annual cost of feed comes to $9,739. In order to pay for this on his own, Jose Luis would need to maintain 13 full-time students, which isn't reasonable considering he needs to make enough money on top of that to feed himself and his own family.

         Having watched several "green" documentaries lately, I got to thinking.... isn't there some way we can cut down on costs? A way to cut out the middle man and grow our own food efficiently? Lee and I began brainstorming, and she came across the idea of growing barley fodder. We found this great video which gives comprehensive instructions for growing this great alternative to conventional ways of feeding. Take a look...

         The action of sprouting amplifies the natural proteins, vitamins, minerals, enzymatic activity, omega 3’s, amino acids, natural hormones, and stimulates immune response. In addition, sprouting the grain increases the digestibility from 40 percent to 80 percent, so that the horses will not need to consume as much fodder compared to commercial feed since they will be obtaining more nutrition from a smaller volume of feed. A 5 pound batch of seed will yield a 25 pound fodder mat in only 7 days, exponentially increasing the efficiency of barley as a food source. By implementing a similar system to the one shown above, we would be able to produce 100 pounds of sprouted barley per day, plus feed them alfalfa at a cost of $5,322 per year! This would be a savings of 45 percent or $4,417 a year. This would translate into 7 full-time students, which is much more reasonable for Jose Luis.

         Excited about the possibility of this new system, Jose Luis and the boys put together a prototype with the help of a new volunteer named Micah. As you can see they used chicken wire and wood to construct shelves that are conducive to the flood-and-drain system that is the most effective in this kind of set-up. The entire process from seed to full sprouting takes only 7 days to complete. After some initial precautions are taken against mold (rinsing and soaking with a small amount of bleach or vinegar), all that is required is watering a few times a day, and voilà!

         This project is a great way to get the boys more involved with the program. Many of them have really taken to the idea, excited to learn about the growth process and becoming sustainable. Since the fodder will be harvested at Blajot, it will also provide much needed structure and a sense of responsibility among the members of Vida y Esperanza.

         Construction is set to begin next week at Blajot, starting with building a floor space and walls on an already existing lean-to structure. The bit that will be started next week Micah has very generously agreed to finance!! As for the rest of construction and material costs we predict that it will come to approximately $2,200. This figure may sound high, but with the fodder system in place we will still be saving over $2,000 the first year. We will need to buy:

34 Plastic 40L Gasoline Tanks (cut in half to make 64 24" x 15" trays) 
                $8.82 x 34 =  $300    

Materials to Build 2 Large Shelving Units 
                $350 x 2  =  $700

Drainage Supplies
                $200

Foundation and Walls for the Existing Lean-To
                $1,000

         If you wish to contribute to this project, please find the 'Donate' button on the right side of this blog. Any amount helps and is greatly appreciated. If you are unable to contribute monetarily, your input and ideas about how to further Vida y Esperanza's sustainability effort are welcomed, and you can do so by leaving a comment below each post! Sharing this page and spreading the word to friends and family is immensely helpful as well! Thanks again for all of the support!

INTRODUCING VALKIRIA

In order to share with you the boys in Jose Luis' program Vida y Esperanza have written biographies of their favorite horse. They did this to let you know about each horse.

So ta ta! We present Valkiria!

Valkiria:

Valkiria (Valkyrie) is 6 years old and has a brown coat.  He is from Santa Cruz and is one of the taller horses.  He doesn’t behave very well and is very crazy when someone rides him.  Valkiria has a lot of energy and is never calm.  He likes to trot and gallop and jumps beautifully.  He is a very strong horse and is able to jump very high obstacles.  He eats a lot and prefers to eat a very balanced diet.  Valkiria gets along with all of the horses very well.

Valkiria tiene 6 años y es un caballo con un pelaje café.  Él es de Santa Cruz.  Él es uno de los caballos más altos.  Él es mal comportado a veces y es muy loco cuando alguien le monta a él Valkiria tiene mucha energía y nunca es tranquilo.   A él le gusta a trotar y galopar mucho, y él salta muy bonito.  Él tiene mucha fuerza y por esa razón, puede saltar alturas muy altas!  Él come mucho y prefiere una dieta balanceada.  Valkiria se porta muy bien con todos los caballos.

As it is dry season here in Bolivia we are short of food for the horses if anyone cares to make a donation for the purchasing of food please use the DONATE button to the right. 

GRACIAS KARIN!!!!

Early this month we received some great donations from Karin Caves. She heard about the program from a student and quickly offered to donate some equipment. We managed to get some of it down here and are now waiting for another visitor to be able to bring us the saddles and boots she has. In the meantime we are happy to have the following: 

1 pair of stirrups with leathers
1 pair of spurs
1 used bridle
3 pairs of reins
2 halters
A set of galloping boots
4 used bits
3 sets of reins
1 pair of riding gloves

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Jose Luis and the boys send Karin a big thank you!

MIRO AND MISHA

In July we were lucky to have Miro and Misha come to volunteer for the month through Volunteer Bolivia. The father and daughter team were a great addition to the program as they both ride in their hometown of Colorado Springs. Misha is 12 and an avid reader. She has a sister named Coco and lives with her father, Miro and her mom, Emily. Miro is a professor at Colorado College and spends much of his time studying tree lines high in the Colorado mountains. They both love nature and horses!!!

They brought with them a donation of equipment from the stable where they board their horse including some desperately needed galloping boots, saddle blankets, bits and brushes. The family also donated $274 to build and paint these jumps that the kids use for practice. They and the kids worked hard painting the jumps!

Wow!! They jump that high?

Even the pink paint worked out.

We would like to thank them for their donations and for the time they spent with us in Blajot hanging with the kids! 

They are missed but we are hoping to see the whole family in summer 2014!

MATERIALS DONATED AND MORE ON THE WAY!

At the end of May, after volunteering for 3 months, Abby Mayer headed back to the US and on to new horizons. She left behind many good friends and the chicos at Vida y Esperanza but she assured she will not be forgotten. During her time with us she was able to collect the following donations:

Jose Luis receiving the donations.

7 used bridles

2 new bridles

2 breast plates

4 used girths

2 sets of stirrups

1 pair of reins

4 new crops

4 new bits

1 Saddle YEAH!

4 brushes

5 combs

2 lead ropes

2 jump cups

6 lead line clips

2 hoof picks

2 used saddle pads

You should see how much better equipped the program is and how the kids brush those horses! We want to thank everyone who donated, with the cash we raised $415 we were able to buy the new equipment above and shoe and feed the horses for a couple months. 

Trying to speak with Abby on Skype to thank her!

The next project is to build and paint the jump standards so that the kids can practice and begin to compete in the local horse shows. There are two new volunteers coming Milo and his daughter Misha and some surprises so keep checking out the blog and once again from the bottom of our hearts THANK YOU!!!