By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – Don’t call them ponies. But a Taylorville woman who brings her three miniature horses around for fun or for therapy says Jasper, Winnie, and Bailey are “certified smile horses.”
Andra Ebert and her three horses came around to HSHS St John’s Children’s Hospital in Springfield for some therapy for patients. She says spending time with an animal lowers your blood pressure, boosts your endorphins, and improves your mood.
The horses also go to such places as nursing homes and facilities for the developmentally disabled. Ebert says she trains them with beds and walkers so they get used to such surroundings.
“If you can imagine, when we go to some large events, about 1,000 people touching their face, they last about an hour and a half and then look at me and go. ‘I’m done, mom.’”
Ebert’s program runs on donations. A Springfield temp agency donated $5,000, which will provide five years’ worth of therapy at the children’s hospital.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]
