Minis And Friends

We are a 501c3 non-profit organization that bring our trained miniature horses to you! Our mobile herd of mini ambassadors go to nursing homes, assisted living, rehab, schools (behavior and life skills), treatment centers and more. Everyone young or old will enjoy a visit with our small, but mighty equines. You will see big smiles during a visit with a small horse.

Description:
Minis and Friends also educates people in the community about the unique ability of the miniature horse to soothe the soul. The human-to-horse bond also warms the soul and opens the heart. We bring a little bit of love to everyone. Minis and Friends is dedicated to bringing our mobile herd of trained miniature horses to visit and interact with people of all ages who may be suffering mentally, physically or emotionally.

Our unique programs tailor activities for children with disabilities, at-risk youth, individuals in transition and elder adults to improve their motor skills, ability to connect, tactile response, use of senses and spirit through interaction with miniature horses. In 2009, we will continue to work with other charities as a support leg and continue building our visit/events calendar. We have developed 4 working programs (one that activates in Q1 2009)- http://www.minisandfriends.org/programs.html - we need 2 mini handlers per miniature horse to have the best visit ever.

While it is commonly known that pets are good for our health and well-being, do you know that a visit with a miniature horse does work to bring healing and good health? Most people have never seen a ‘mini’, much less touched one! Our herd is composed of specially trained horses, which work with both children and adults.

History:
In September of 2006, a group of caring people and horse lovers that were dedicated to sharing the love and spirit of miniature horses to those who need special, tender care in the greater Austin area created the idea of Minis and Friends. Our organization works mostly on weekends as many of the volunteers work jobs during the day. This would present a real-time volunteering for them and not just sitting in the background running the organization. Our goals include finding grants/sponsors/donations to help keep the minis working in the community free rather than ask for an honorarium from any facility or visit. Our organization is 100% volunteer and donation based. Not one person is paid a salary and all donations go back into the daily care-taking of the miniature horses.

Contact people:

Sally Iwanski, Program Director, (***) ***-**** , mailbox 2, (email) Aquila Graham, Marketing Director, (email)

Address:

P.O. Box 91704 Austin, TX 78709

Web Site: http://www.minisandfriends.org

Directions:

We meet at visits and events. We do not have a physical address. Volunteers will be invited with instructions on location. We also have a Yahoo Volunteer Group site that all volunteers join with a huge sharing of information on. . . (more) For maps or information, please see http://www.capmetro.org/riding/trip_info.asp

Last updated on February 5, 2009