Visits from ponies delight care home residents

Two Shetland ponies have been charming residents of a care home on monthly visits.

Many of the residents of Deerhurst care home in Bristol have dementia, said Kelly, who runs the therapy pony business A Million Memories.

She said the ponies' gentle nature really helps. "We can walk into a room with someone who is manic and within seconds they are really calm," Kelly said.

Her 12-year-old daughter Farrah, who joins her mother, came up with the idea of the visits. "My grandad passed away in 2023 and he loved horses, so we decided to take them into care homes and make people happy," she said.

The therapy Shetland ponies are taken to bedsides and communal areas for strokes

The two ponies, Jammy, 19, and Daisy, 25, are led into the residents' rooms and communal areas for them to stroke.

Kelly, who runs the business from Westbury in Wiltshire, said: "I didn't actually realise until I started doing this what impact they have and how they're so tuned in to humans."

Jan, one of the residents of the Brunelcare home in Soundwell, said the ponies bring back memories of the donkeys on the beach at Weston-super-Mare.

"I love it, I just love it," she said. "We lived round that way so we were always trying to get our son to get up on one."

For others, the visits bring back memories of owning pets.

"They're lovely creatures, they're so friendly," one resident said.

The retired brood mares are ideal for the visits, Kelly said.

"They're incredibly good," she said. "They know their job, they will take themselves to a resident and fall asleep on their lap."

Kelly said her daughter was very natural with the residents.

"She's just got a lot of time for the older generation... we know how important animals are in people's lives," she said.

Farrah and her mum Kelly lead the ponies around the home