Meet Chickaboo and Cameron — two small ponies with big hearts who are putting smiles on the faces of the elderly.

“Little Boo is house trained
and makes the odd visit
inside to watch TV.”

The touch, sight and smell of a horse can have a profound effect on any person’s wellbeing. When it comes to society’s most vulnerable – the ill and the elderly living in hospitals or aged care facilities – visits from special therapy horses, who possess an innate ability to soothe and lift the soul, can be incredibly touching and heart-warming experiences.

One horse that made a name for himself as a therapy animal was “the people’s horse”, the late Subzero. The lovable former Clerk of the Course horse and Melbourne Cup winner was well known for his trips to schools, aged care facilities and hospices. Now, stepping up to the role are Chickaboo and Cameron — they may not be Melbourne Cup winners, but they are winning the hearts of aged care residents wherever they go.

ANNE SCOTT-VIRTUE & CHICKABOO

Everyone has had a challenging year due to Covid-19, however, many nursing home residents have had it particularly tough. With limits on visits, especially in Victoria, it has certainly been quite isolating.

Gisborne-based photographer Anne Scott-Virtue (White Shutter Photography) has had a quiet year business-wise due to Covid, but being able to spend some time at home with the horses means it hasn’t been all bad. Anne has her own thoroughbred that she rides, and earlier in the year she began leasing a pint-sized Shetland by the name of Chickaboo for her 14-month-old daughter, River.

Little Boo is house-trained and makes the odd visit inside to watch TV, and is incredibly calm and gentle with children. “She’s a really, really sweet pony. If my daughter goes anywhere near her, she just stands like a rock and doesn’t move a muscle. River pulls herself up on her fur and her mane, and she just stands still.”

“Her previous owner, who worked in aged care, told me she was a therapy pony and actually went to nursing homes. In between the two lockdowns here in Victoria, I had organised with the aged care facilities in our local area to take her out and do some therapy work — but that got put on hold with the second lockdown.”

Fortunately, residing in regional Victoria means that Anne has now been able to head out with Boo for their first visit to Warrina Aged Care in New Gisborne — which has fortunately remained Covid-free.

“They are just down the road from us, and I would drive past it almost on a daily basis. I’d see this lady visiting a family member, and she would sit out the front of a window with a camping chair and communicate with the other person on the inside through the window. It just broke my heart every time I drove past.

“I think the elderly have been dealt a real blow and have done it really tough. I mean, all of us in some form or another, we’ve done it tough, but I feel the elderly have had it particularly bad. I feel it can be quite a lonely existence in some cases.”

“Boo stepped up right to
her bed and then just rested
her head on the bed.”

Although Boo had experience as a therapy pony, Anne had never seen her at work before! “When she got off the float, she was a little bit prancy and trotting around and she was loving being out. But as soon as she got into the home, she was so calm. It was really cool; she was brilliant.”

Anne recalls a couple of residents in particular that were touched by Boo.

“One gentleman, who didn’t have much use of his arms or legs, was wheeled over to Boo for a visit. Boo stepped up to him and just rested her head on the armrest and didn’t move. Although he couldn’t pat her, her nose was touching his arm and so he was feeling her breath on his skin, and he even got a bit teary,” says Anne, recalling the touching moment.

“Another lady, she was 105 years old, and Boo stepped up right to her bed and then just rested her head on the bed and the lady just patted her, it was lovely.”

Anne explains that there were a number of residents who told stories of how they had grown up with horses or how their children had horses; one gentleman who’d had ex-racehorses was very interested to hear about Boo’s paddock mate!

“Boo was fantastic. She was just so calm, and happy to go into and back out of really tight spaces, and she enjoyed all the pats and scratches that she could get. It was just super and was really awesome to see how well she did it all. She was just very chilled; nothing fazes that pony!”

Anne had been told that Boo was house-trained, but had only had her inside at home for short stints — so the hour-and-a-half nursing home visit was certainly going to prove if this was in fact the case. “She actually waited until she got back to the float… so it was good to see that it actually worked!”

Anne has more visits planned for Boo, including Warrina Aged Care on a fortnightly basis. As soon as restrictions allow, she’s is hoping to visit the Royals Children’s Hospital and the Very Special Kids Hospice in Malvern — the latter of which used to be frequented by Subzero. Both are very excited to welcome Boo. Word quickly spread on social media, and Boo’s presence has since been requested at an aged care facility in Yarraville as well once restrictions allow.

“We’ll pop some reindeer
antlers or a unicorn horn
on her for Christmas!”

“I’m currently doing some groundwork and trying to teach Boo a few tricks. You know, a bow and doing some side steps… and I’m currently trying to practise with her to sit down. And then when we go to see the kids, hopefully she can do them and we’ll pop some reindeer antlers or a unicorn horn on her for Christmas!

“Once we go into clinic environments, I’m going to have to find her some boots because the floors are going to be slippery. But I haven’t been able to find any that fit — we even tried dog boots — so I’m going to have to get some custom made. If I can’t find any, I might just have to wrap her feet in vet wrap!”

The residents of Warrina Aged Care certainly enjoyed Boo’s visit, and by the sounds of it the adorable little Shetland did as well. “It was good for her. She was really happy. And then when she came home she and had some hay and a snooze.” Well deserved, Boo!

You can follow the adventures of Chickaboo and her thoroughbred friend Thomas via cherart.equestrian

“They’ve got to have
the right personality
to start with.”

KATHRYN BLISSETT & ‘CAMERON’

Based in the picturesque Southern Highlands region of New South Wales, Kathryn Blissett and her delightful 12-year-old Welsh A pony Cambooya Campari – “Cameron” to his friends – are another pair whose aged care visits are allowing the elderly to rejoice in the sight, smell and sound of a pony’s presence.

Kathryn and her husband have been involved in aged care for over 20 years, as owners of Anthem Care for Life in Bowral. A passionate equestrian who has been involved with horses all her life, Kathryn’s first foray into pony visits for the elderly came about when an Anthem resident who was passing away kept whispering that she wanted to touch her horse.

“I thought, I have got to do this better. She cannot pass away without touching a horse again,” Kathryn recalls. “So I took Hunter in, my first pony that I used for visits, and after that I thought oh wow, I think this is something we can do!”

From that point on, Hunter made regular visits to Anthem until he fell ill and sadly passed away. It was then Cameron’s turn to step in and continue the great work that Hunter had started. As a competitive Show Hunter pony, Cameron is no stranger to the attention of an adoring audience.

“He took to it like a duck to water,” Kathryn recalls, explaining that Cameron did not need any special training or preparation before his first visit. “I think they’ve got to have the right personality to start with. I tried him out because I could see that he had a similar easygoing personality to Hunter. They have to be patient enough to be near a wheelchair, and they can’t be scared of those electric scooters coming towards them. They can’t be worried by an elderly person moving their walker and accidentally touching their leg or anything like that — they have to be good with all those sorts of things. The last thing you want them doing is kicking out in those situations!”

Happily travelling in lifts and entering any area Kathryn asks him to visit, Cameron laps up the attention he receives and is extraordinarily gentle with Anthem’s residents.

“These ponies seem to have a sixth sense,” Kathryn explains. “He approaches wheelchairs so softly. And when I take him into the palliative rooms where people are passing away, he almost tiptoes into the room. He ever so gently places his head on them while they lay in their beds.”

“These ponies seem to
have a sixth sense.”

One particularly touching encounter occurred when Cameron visited a gentleman in palliative care. “An elderly lady was sitting beside the bed, and as she saw the pony come into the room she said, “Oh, my husband has spent his whole life with horses. I know he misses the smell and the touch.” Cameron walked up to him really carefully, and put his head on the man’s stomach, and we lifted the man’s hand and put it on Cameron’s nose. And we got a smile! The lady said that until then, they’d had no communication from him,” Kathryn recalls.

“In this part of New South Wales we have a lot of old farmers and a lot of old horse people,” Kathryn explains. “And I always just knew that it was something that the residents needed, because the minute you take the pony in, this generation who are in their 80s and 90s have all got a story to tell about a pony from their childhood. The pony in the trap that they took to school, or that they rode bareback. So, what we find is that these visits trigger a whole lot of memories and feelings for them. I could see what other aged care facilities were doing, with things like Pets for Therapy where dogs come and visit. We do that too – but nobody was doing that with horses around here. Visits from a horse really allows our residents to go for a trip down memory lane.”

News of Cameron’s wonderful work at Anthem has spread, and other aged care facilities in the region have approached Kathryn about whether he’s able to visit their facilities too.

“I’m happy to share him around! He’s so good at it, he’s my little superstar,” Kathryn says, before adding that Covid-19 restrictions introduced this year interrupted both the regularity of Cameron’s visits to Anthem, and his capacity to visit other facilities. However, with restrictions now easing, and horse shows now back on the calendar, it seems that Cameron will be a busy pony for the remainder of 2020 and beyond, as he juggles his showing and therapy horse commitments! EQ