I live more than 1,000 miles away from my family, but when I visit them, I drive. Why? Because air travel is so awful. Flights are never on time. There’s no leg room on the plane. Luggage routinely gets lost. And because of all this, even if you manage to keep your chill through the whole experience, everyone around you is super grumpy.
That’s why an airport is the perfect location for a therapy horse.
Dakota, a tiny pinto from Seven Oaks Farm Miniature Therapy Horses, had the task of helping harried air travelers find their mellow at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport on Wednesday. According to WLWT, Dakota’s visit is the start of a pilot program (no pun intended, we assume) to see how passengers responded.
When they’re not being subjected to airports, the therapy horses for Seven Oaks Farm visit classrooms, college campuses, senior centers and wherever else their reassuring presence is needed. Here’s hoping the airport program is a success and Mini horses become a regular sight for air travelers. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even start flying again.*
*Unlikely.
Leslie Potter is Managing Editor of horseillustrated.com. Follow her on Twitter: @LeslieInLex.
Leslie Potter is a graduate of William Woods University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Equestrian Science with a concentration in saddle seat riding and a minor in Journalism/Mass Communications. She is currently a writer and photographer in Lexington, Ky. Potter worked as a barn manager and riding instructor and was a freelance reporter and photographer for the Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar and Saddle Horse Report before moving to Lexington to join Horse Illustrated as Web Editor from 2008 to 2019. Her current equestrian pursuits include being a grown-up lesson kid at an eventing barn and trail riding with her senior Morgan gelding, Snoopy.
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