Special Ponies for Special Needs

by Denny

It is no secret as to how special horses and ponies can be, and how they can bring joy to a regular person’s life. And, if these special animals can bring happiness to a regular person’s life, think what having a ‘personal pony’ can mean to a child with special needs.

Somewhere, someone had a dream. Marianne Alexander, founder of Personal Ponies, wanted to do something special for special children. Her goal was to enhance the lives of special needs children by bringing a pony into their lives. The child’s own ‘personal pony’ would be matched to the child’s personality and temperament, as well as size and age, and would be provided to the child and family on a charitable basis, completely without charge. She wanted to help these special needs children in a unique way and bring magic into their lives.

The UK Shetland Ponies that are provided for the children have temperaments that are especially sensitive to children with disabilities. The Shetland ponies are provided to children with special needs because they are better suited to these children that require a smaller mount and an animal of smaller stature. The organization provides a pony to families that have special needs children, but families do not have to worry whether their child is ‘sick’ enough or ‘disabled’ enough, because they cater to any child who may be different in a special way. The families are screened however, to ensure that the whole family is committed to the project and to the care and up-keep of the pony.

The standard size of the Shetland ponies, as set by the Shetland Pony Stud Book Society, is of an upper height limit of 42” or 107 cms. These ponies can be any color known in the horse community, except spotted. Their coat changes according to the seasons—they get a double coat in winter and have a shorter coat in summer. The guard hairs on these ponies shed rain and keep the pony’s skin dry in the winter weather, and by contrast should have a silky sheen in summer.

The benefits of having a pet for anyone is a great experience. Having a pet pony to share a special needs’ child’s life can be especially rewarding. Imagine that child’s feeling as they learn to ride their own pony. Image how accomplished they may feel in being able to attend to their personal pony’s care. Think about what it would mean to a special needs child to have a pony of their own to share their lives with and to love.

This represents another way in which horses and ponies can enrich lives.

Author: Denny Phillips, from the Great Pet Owners website

The Great Pet Owners website offers tips, articles and advice on pet care and pet health. Denny Phillips has also written an e-book “Become A GREAT Pet Owner” for people who are passionate about pets and want to learn how they can become better friends and companions to their pets—become GREAT pet owners. The book is available at:http://www.great-pet-owners.com/pet-owner.html