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Tender Little Hearts Mini Tales and Facilitated Equine Mini Therapy founder Terry Holmes-Stecyk reads to a group of children alongside Boone, a registered therapy animal and miniature Sicilian donkey. (Photo courtesy of Terry Holmes-Stecyk)
Tender Little
Hearts
Scottsdale ranch connects community through equine therapy By Jordan Houston
North Scottsdale nonprofit is tapping into the empathetic nature of miniature horses for the greater good, offering therapy and reading services for older adults and young children. The Tender Little Hearts Mini Tales and Facilitated Equine Mini Therapy is an assisted equine therapy outreach program. 10
Founded in March 2019 by Terry HolmesStecyk, the organization provides assisted therapy for children and adults with special needs or developmental disabilities, as well as those in need of emotional relief therapy, such as homes serving abused or at-risk children, foster homes and centers, hospice, hospitals, skilled nursing care facilities, senior care centers, memory care facilities and more. She encourages reading and literacy for children through her Mini Tales program. All services are free and incorporate the use of a miniature therapy horse or donkey, qualified through the Miniature Equine Therapy Standards Association and American Miniature Therapy Horse Organization, according to Holmes-Stecyk. “You can’t look at the interaction between
OCTOBER 2021 | NOVEMBER 2021 NORTHVALLEYMAGAZINE.COM
humans and little horses and not know that there is some therapy going on there,” she says. “Horses can hear a man’s heartbeat from 4 feet away. They are herd animals, so they sync with that man, and together you see the relaxation of the human, the relaxation of the mini horse, and the magical moments of this positive energy between the two.” The organization strives to join the forces of miniature therapy teams with psychological and medical professionals through education and collaboration. Tender Little Hearts has won numerous awards, including the Daughters of the American Revolution Community Service Award and the winning spots for the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
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