Horse visits retirement home in touching video
"We are so excited that the visit was able to bring joy."
— -- A visit from a horse lifted the spirits of residents at a retirement home in Padstow Heights, Australia last week.
“Pet therapy is an important part of our lifestyle program at Southhaven as it brings such joy to residents and helps start conversations about the past, but we had never had a horse visit before!” facility manager Peter Jessing wrote to ABC News in a press release.
The 17-year-old horse named Bushman is a specially trained Appaloosa, an American horse breed. Bushman is part of the Travelling Horse organization, which takes him to visit retirement homes around New South Wales, Australia.
Jessing said the gentle horse helped spark memories for their residents who grew up with horses on farms and used to ride regularly.
“They are still talking about it now,” said Jessing of Bushman's Dec. 5 visit. “Nearly everyone has some sort of connection with horses, having used to ride them to school, taken lessons or had an experience with them when they went on holidays.”
The video has gotten more than 2 million views on the Christadelphian Aged Care Facebook page.
“We are so excited that the visit was able to bring joy to more people than just our residents,” said Jessing.