I’m interested in getting involved in using a mini for therapy visits to hospitals/elder care facilities/etc.
Does anyone currently do this?
I’m looking for some insight as far as pros/cons.
I’m also wondering if you keep the mini in the house or the barn! lol.
I’m still in the research phase, so feel free to offer any info you think would be helpful!
I have 2 minis, but I don’t take them for therapy visits. They’ve helped me a lot with getting through the health issues I have. Mine have very different personalities. One is very sweet but easily overwhelmed. The other is a certified grade A dog horse…she loves things that no self respecting horse should. Like having the top of her head scratched, or getting scratched behind the ears.
Mine live in the barn year round. They may be tiny, but they’re still horses. Feed wise, they should be managed like an IR horse. Low NSC, controlled access to grass.
They’re super smart, which means they can pick up on bad habits as easily as they can be trained.
I know the ‘in the house’ question is weird, but I know people use them as guides for the blind- and they live in houses then… so I was just curious what people did.
Thanks for your response!
OP are you an experienced horse person? If so, great, but make sure there is a framework for using them in local institutions. Probably you would want to be part of a society and insured.
If you are not an experienced horse person just a heads up that they require the same level of care as regular horses, farrier dental inoculations etc. At the same cost.
Yes I am! The therapy part would be new to me, but not the mini part. And not the training part. And yes- I am looking into different places that certify them and so forth.
I’m still looking for pros and cons. And I have a lot of questions in general. I’m reaching out to a couple places, I’m trying to find someone in my area who currently does this so I can ask them questions first hand.
Obviously it’s a big committment. I’d prefer to go into it knowing what to expect.
Do you want to do therapy or just visit?
If you want to do therapy seek out of one of the training options on this and get certified.
Therapy is different from just visiting a hospital.
Are you wanting to do this as paid employment?
They call them therapy dogs/animals here, but it’s just visiting. No pay- just volunteer. But they do have to be certified through an agency for most places to accept them coming on the property from what I’ve found.
I’ve done just about all the research I can do online. I was just hoping someone here had first hand experience.
I am a mental health therapy technician, I routinely bring my mini and full sized horse to the hospital for animal assisted activities. We have an enclosed soft ball field that I use.
Patients love to run with the horses on lead ropes and most patients can do basic in hand work and pick up feet!
It is so amazing to see patients who never get out of bed come out when the horses are there.
Everyday I have patients asking if Kopp or Chip-Squeak will be coming.
On days they don’t go to work we watch a horse related documentary. Buck and The Palio and Unbranded are huge favorites
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