Pixie & Pickles Adventures offers a unique service using Shetland Ponies.
We visit your home or establishment with selected ponies for therapy visits. Our ponies even have special pants to wear so that we can avoid mishaps! Our ponies are kind, gentle and loveable and adore their role as therapy ponies.
So what are therapy ponies and how can they help?
Studies have shown that human interaction with animals provides many benefits in all age groups. The presence of animals not only improves a person’s emotional health but also physical.
Horses are known to be sensitive and intuitive and they mirror human emotions.
Horses allow people to relax as they accept everyone without judgement.
Benefits of Pony therapy include:
- Lowers anxiety and stress
- Stimulates endorphins helping depression
- Reduces blood pressure
- Stimulates memory
Our ponies can visit:
- Care homes
- Womens refuge’s
- Mens refuge’s
- Hospitals
- Hospices
- Schools
- Private homes
We can also come along to your event! Get in touch for more information.
This video is funny because if you know Pickles like we do, she has always HATED puddles. Whenever we came across a puddle when out and about, she resisted and pulled every move possible to NOT walk through it and always ended up jumping over it in a VERY dramatic and exaggerated manner. We genuinely believed for years that she didn't like puddles.![]()
BUT.... she has now been caught on camera enjoying a little splash with Toby and Bluebell in a big puddle in their field!! The little 'drama queen/princess' has been fooling #therapyponiesarethebestoniesarethebest
This week Barney is getting used to his 'nappy' that he will wear when doing indoor visits. We start off by showing him the harness etc then we tend to just 'put it strsight on,' but we dont secure the nappy to his tail for the first few times, so it can be removed quickly if he doesnt like the feel of it. You will see in the video that the only times we correct him is if he pulls backwards on his rope or moves about whilst the harness is being put on or removed. That is a 'no' when we train the therapy ponies and corrected immediately as we want them to learn to stand quietly so we can harness and unharness quickly and smoothly at visits, especially if we are doing this in the confined space of the lorry or at a busy roadside.![]()
As with everything we introduce Barney too, he is SO laid back and chilled about it all. The trust is definitely mutual between the handler and him (but NEVER taken for granted!). What a little star. Next is going inside buildings and lifts .#therapyponiesarethebesthere.![]()
#therapyponiesarethebest
Playtime and 'racing each other' is an important part of a therapy ponys devel#therapyponiesarethebestarethebest
Barney joined Pixie and Pickles Therapy Ponies as a baby. We met him and his owner one afternoon and immediately knew he was meant to be with us. Barney had been well handled and loved by his previous owner, so we met a very happy pony. Handling ponies whilst they are youngsters is a golden rule as it sets them up for life. ![]()
As with all new arrivals we let him settle into his new environment and meet the other therapy ponies. All new ponies share a field with just Pickles first as she is the leader of the herd, strict but kind and she teaches new ponies 'the rules'!!![]()
Once in with the gang, Barney very quickly became best buddies with Arthur and spent hours and hours playing and chasing each other in the fields.![]()
He met our farrier, dentist and vet and had his flu & tetanus injections. The pics below show him as a foal, arriving with us, having the farrier, dentist and some basic training days. We start all our youngsters with outside work (schools, public outdoor events etc... ) then we progress to indoor care home visits wearing their special 'nappies' and accompanied by one of our experienced therapy ponies so they can follow and learn how we eventually would expect them to behave.![]()
![]()
#therapyponiesarethebest