Ponchos Mustang Rescue is the home to the visiting mini horses and mini longears (donkeys).
We take minis for visits to adult care facilities, memorycare, hospitals etc. all over the Tucson area.
Miniature horses and donkeys have everything your full-size equines have just in a smaller package. Loveable personality’s, love to give attention and love to receive attention. These tiny equines are also trained to interact with people in a way that provides therapeutic benefits. The horses and donkeys are calm and gentle, helping seniors feel encouraged to approach and pet them. Because of their small size they are easy to transport . We walk them right into the facility and take them bedside or sometimes in a common area where the employees of the facility have brought all the residents to. We also go into secure memory care units. The horses are trained extensively to provide comfort and healing to those in need, much like traditional therapy dogs.
We have had so many positive tear jerking testimonials.
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- One residence we visited with the mini horses a man ran out after us and tears were just streaming down his face. He said ”if you did not come for anyone else you came for my dad. He has always been in the horse world, he was a blacksmith, a roper, participated in many rodeos always had a horse career, you made his day, he is smiling from ear to ear.”
- We were at a residence and a nurse came out of a patient’s room and said “this person has not spoken in months ,he just told me there was a horse in his room and he was laughing”.
- We went into a residents room and the woman started crying, she said ”these are happy tears , I grew up with horses and have not seen one in a long time, you made my day.”
- At one of the residents a nurse told us that the man we had just seen had been on suicide watch and he is laughing and clapping.