 |
| My last pony sighting was way back in 2011, and here was my caption of said pony on Facebook: "Midget Pony!!! Should have been front and center. (March 23, 2011)." Notice the tiara, though, because she's a special, magical pony. That's the right attitude to have when showcasing the pony as therapy. |
You all know by now about my fondness for the "wee pony", because I actively stump for their return to our town parade every year (see more about my annual complaints here: http://mariedoucette.blogspot.com/2015/02/old-houses-in-snow.html), and each time I have been denied my request. Why? Where have all the ponies gone?!
As it turns out, they've been quite busy as a stable indeed. I sat up straight from my futon the other evening, when the local news flashed a story across the screen about "Magic" (I know, I know!), the magical pony that travels around, making wheelchair-bound Grandma's and hospital-sick kids alike happy with his fancy brand of happiness.
And it is very fancy: just like Pet Therapy dogs, the grooming requirements for healthcare visits are quite strict, as is the behavior for animals that visit the sick and infirm. We can't have any bad episodes! The select few animals trained and groomed to visit our sick have to be better than everyone around them, including the humans they tend to.
How do I know? Can't you guess by now, kids? I seriously thought about training my very own "Ted" as a therapy dog, after he successfully completed his first obedience course with my dog trainer friend in Brooklyn. Of course, I didn't have the time to floss Ted's teeth, or the money too pay someone else to do that for me, but he had the perfect temperament for therapy work, because more than a few humans told me he was exactly like me. Ted was me as a dog!!
And so it is that I also find other famously healing animals with wonderful human parents, like Sir Harvard Dangerfield of Boston (a wildly famous Samoyed, just like my little girl "Snowflake" was!), Odin the Underfoot Mal (sensitive, highly emotive, and always lurking beneath Mommy's feet for food scraps, just like TeddyBear did), Lil' Bub the Cat, and so many others that are too many to mention here. You definitely need to be on social media more! There's a lot of good, fun stuff going on. Here's an introductory primer course in "coolness":
Go forth and heal, my friends, knowing that I support you fully and completely, for all time. Happy Memorial Day weekend!
