Therapy-givers come in all shapes and sizes, but hold your horses because this little therapy-giver is a speckled three-legged pony named Molly.Molly could be the Poster Pony for Hurricane Katrina of 2005. After Katrina hit, Molly was abandoned for about two weeks, until she was discovered and rescued by Kaye Harris in St. Rose, Louisiana. Ms. Harris had rescued other abandoned horses and animals after Katrina and was tending them on her farm. A pit bull terrier also rescued by Ms. Harris, attacked and bit Molly so severely that the consensus of medical opinion was bleak. Among multiple lesions, her right front leg was so infected that Molly's life was in jeopardy. Equine amputation and prosthetics are expensive and rarely successful. Kaye Harris and Molly's vet, Allison D. Barca, DVM, went to Lousiana State University's Equine Clinic to plead her case because it was clear that this little pony wasn't about to give up.
At LSU, doctors evaluated Molly and saw she had a keen instinct for survival. Her small size, combined with self-preservation skills, eventually led Dr. Rustin M. Moore, veterinarian and Director of LSU's Equine Clinic, to amputate Molly's right front leg and have her fitted with a prosthesis. And not just any prosthesis. Molly's artificial limb leaves her signature "hoof" print -- a smiley face -- wherever she goes!
After everything that she went through, Molly not only survived, but thrived. Her sweet nature and will to live touched people's hearts. Her owner began taking her to visit hospitals and children's wards. The sick and disabled felt that if Molly could hang in there, well.....they could, too.
Pam Kaster, author of Molly the Pony A True Story, shared with me what most affected her about Molly, "I got the idea for writing the story about her before I met her because I was so impressed with the unique surgery performed at the LSU Vet School. Only then did I realize that she had not only survived Hurricane Katrina, she also survived an attack from a dog. With the dedication of her owner, Molly continues to inspire people with her courage to keep going in spite of hardship and tragedy." Molly the Pony, a 32 page book with color photographs, won the 2008 American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Henry Bergh Children's Book Award. Molly the Pony can be purchased directly through Pam Kaster's website (http://www.bayouponytales.com) or through Amazon.com. Today Molly is about 21 years old and continues her visits to handicapped children and the elderly. She is the Mascot of "Kids and Ponies the Molly Foundation" which puts kids together with retired or rescued ponies. To learn more about Molly's Foundation and how you can help her help others, go to: http://mollythepony.com/Home_Page.html. Watch the CBS video on Molly's Home Page about how Molly inspired young cancer patient, Ben Baltz. You might want to have Kleenex handy.
Before WWII, it was only the two-legged Homosapiens who offered comfort and emotional support to the sick. A four-footed canine by the name of Smoky began visiting wounded soldiers in an army hospital in the Philippines. His visits were so successful, that he joined Dr. Charles Mayo (who later founded the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN) on hospital rounds for the next 12 years.
The term "animal-assisted therapy" was born in 1982 when Nancy Stanley, a Los Angeles zoo volunteer, founded TLZ (Tender Loving Zoo). Having witnessed how handicapped visitors at the zoo responded positively to the animals, she took $7,500 of her own savings, bought a van, recruited volunteers, and persuaded a pet store to lend baby animals of all kinds to visit patients. As a result of Ms. Stanley's work, canine-assisted therapy was broadened to "animal-assisted therapy."
Today many other species lend emotional and social support to humans. Birds, cats, rabbits, horses, elephants, and dolphins, to name a few species, are employed in programs around the world. I've even been told of a turkey in Southern Oregon that is a live-in mascot in a nursing home and makes the rounds of visiting and sitting with severely ill patients.
Photo of Molly and book cover by permission of Pam Kaster http://www.bayouponytales.com.
The term "animal-assisted therapy" was born in 1982 when Nancy Stanley, a Los Angeles zoo volunteer, founded TLZ (Tender Loving Zoo). Having witnessed how handicapped visitors at the zoo responded positively to the animals, she took $7,500 of her own savings, bought a van, recruited volunteers, and persuaded a pet store to lend baby animals of all kinds to visit patients. As a result of Ms. Stanley's work, canine-assisted therapy was broadened to "animal-assisted therapy."
Today many other species lend emotional and social support to humans. Birds, cats, rabbits, horses, elephants, and dolphins, to name a few species, are employed in programs around the world. I've even been told of a turkey in Southern Oregon that is a live-in mascot in a nursing home and makes the rounds of visiting and sitting with severely ill patients.
Photo of Molly and book cover by permission of Pam Kaster http://www.bayouponytales.com.
