If the internet has proven anything, it's that people love animals—even more if they're small animals. It's no surprise, then, that after the popularity of therapy dogs and even a therapy pig, that an even more ridiculously cute animal is making the rounds at the airport to help relaxed stressed out passengers. Enter the therapy mini horse.
As NPR reports, miniature horses from the Seven Oaks Farm in southwest Ohio have made their way to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Twice a month, two of the farm's 34 miniature horses trot around the airport to cheer up frazzled people passing through. While small in stature, the horses have a big impact.
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"It's just to ease anxiety levels, put smiles on faces. Clearly that's working," Wendi Orlando, the airport's senior manager of customer relations told NPR. "When you look at the passengers walking by, it just never gets old. They love seeing the horses."
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Established as a non-profit organization, the Seven Oaks Farm Miniature Therapy Horses program has garnered national attention, partnering with the likes of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds. The horses have showed up at nursing homes, police programs, and even college campuses during finals week, and while funded by donations for now, the mini horses are booked through 2017, as USA Today notes. Owner Lisa Moad said she's seeking grant money to expand the program, which was first launched when she brought a white miniature horse named Dakota to the airport. "It went over like gangbusters,"recalls Orlando.
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These days, the mini horses are pseudo-celebrities around the airport, and regular passengers expect to see them around.
"Airports are traditionally full of anxiety," Orlando said. "(Seeing animals) helps to ease those anxieties, to put smiles on faces, to just put people in a better place."
Now, if only airlines would let horses on the planes—after all, their behavior couldn't be much worse than some of the humans, and at least they have the potential to calm passengers down.