Everyone seems to get happier when an animal, especially a horse, enters the room
Honor is a miniature horse weighing 90 pounds and is about 3 feet tall. He is one of the 25 miniature horses, that are trained to visit children in hospitals and cheer them up. Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses provides the miniature horses that pay 45000 visits to hospitals annually.
It takes the horses two years of training to get used to human contact. After completing this course, Honor will join the Rapid Response Team. Here he will have to help and comfort people in stressful situations and in case of mental health crisis.
Chief executive Jorge Garcia-Bengochea mentions: “Everyone seems to get happier when an animal, especially a horse, enters the room. Such therapeutic animals help to lower blood pressure and increase endorphins in patients.
Last week 8-year-old Christopher Vasquez from Queens met Honor, “It was really cool when the horse visited us in hospital! Next time I would like to see a monkey!”
Christopher’s mother – Nieves Guaman – mentioned that the visit brought back memories from her homeland.
“Horses are much bigger in Ecuador, where we come from. Anyway, they made my son smile and I am happy for that!”, said the mother.
Honor is making a great progress. “He eats hay and grass all day”, explained Garcia-Bengochea. “He even signs with his front right hoof whenever he needs toilet”. When he’s not working, Honor stays in New Jersey. “Just don’t feed them with carrots! They are not good for their digestive system”, added the chief executive.
