Pet therapy charity’s miniature horses bring joy to young, old and sick in Greece

Miniature horses offer therapy to Greek special needs children, old people and psychiatric patients, but charity providing them needs help

Reading Time:4 minutes

Homer, left, plays with Hercules, both miniature horses used for therapy in Greece. The pet therapy charity that houses them is struggling to stay afloat. Photo: A

Published: 6:15pm, 25 Dec 2024

Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, a smile spreads across the little girl’s face. Blinking behind her glasses, she inches her wheelchair forward and gently reaches out to stroke the tiny grey horse.

Soon, nine-year-old Josifina Topa Mazuch is beaming as she leads Ivi, a specially trained miniature horse, standing no taller than her pink wheelchair, through the school hallway.

“I really want them to come again,” Josifina said of Ivi and a second miniature horse, Calypso, after a November morning visit to her Athens primary school for children with special needs. “They made me feel really happy.”

Ivi and Calypso are two of nine tiny equines from Gentle Carousel Greece, a Greek offshoot of US-based charity Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses offering visits to hospitals, rehabilitation centres and care homes.

Nine-year-old Josifina Topa Mazuch holds the reins of Ivi, a miniature horse, in Athens, Greece. Photo: AP

Trained over two years to work comfortably in confined environments and with vulnerable children and adults, the horses, which stand about 75 centimetres (30 inches) tall, provide a form of pet therapy that carers say offers valuable interactions and learning experiences, particularly to people confined to hospitals or care homes.

But the charity they are part of is struggling to make ends meet – run by one woman who funds the entire operation herself, with one assistant and no support team.