Photo by RR Best
Andrea Ebert is seen with Jasper, one of her two mini therapy horses, during a visit to Aspen Creek in early December.

January 21, 2015

Mini horses make visits to local residential centers

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Andrea Ebert describes it as her perfect storm.
The nurse of more than 30 years who also has a master’s degree in gerontology was able to combine her love for people and for horses last fall by way of creating Heartland Mini Horses, an organization she formed out of Taylorville that seeks to provide therapeutic visits to nursing homes and assisted living centers with the help of two hairy little horses: Jasper and Bailey.
At just 32 inches tall, Jasper is a two-year old miniature horse and is joined by eight-month old Bailey who stands an inch shorter, is black-and-white, and acts as Jasper’s sister in the way they will playfully gnaw at one another.
“Anything over 34 inches is pony stage,” explained Ebert. “As far as training them, these horses have to have a great deal of patience. There are times I’ve had Bailey sit for five minutes waiting for someone to touch her.”     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.