At Your Facility

WHY SCHEDULE VISITS AT YOUR FACILITY?

The American Miniature Therapy Horse Association aka AMTHA was founded in 2014.

It was the first organization to set Standards of Operations and Behaviors for Miniature Therapy Equine “teams” of horse and handler and offer a Qualification Evaluation based on those standards.

AMTHA evaluates the miniature equine and the handler as a team in a variety of situations and environments to ensure they possess the appropriate skills, behavior and aptitude to safely visit institutional facilities, public venues and home environments. Each qualification is only valid when the equine and handler are working together as a team. Qualifications are not individually transferable for either the handler or the equine.

Whether a nursing home facility, a hospital, a school, or any other venue where people are gathered, few can resist the sweetness of a miniature therapy horse.

If you’re not familiar with miniature horses, they are much smaller than a full size horse, standing only 24 to 34 inches in height. Some minis have the look of a very small thoroughbred, while others appear more like a stuffed toy; short legged and chubby.

Either way, they are just adorable. Miniature therapy horses all have one wonderful quality in common; their love for people. They are always ready and willing to be loved by the human race.

Like other therapy animals a gentle personality and a great deal of training is required of both the horse and the handler. AMTHA Qualified teams have successfully performed each phase of the AMTHA Team Qualification Standards to the satisfaction of an AMTHA appointed evaluator.

These standards are what each therapy horse and handler must know and perform together as a team to become an AMTHA Qualified Miniature Therapy Horse Team. Each team must be re-evaluated every two years to maintain their AMTHA qualification.

AMTHA is dedicated to the miniature therapy horse industry and the people that they serve. One of our goals at AMTHA is to offer an easy means for facility managers and/or activity directors to perform their own due diligence when inviting miniature therapy horses into their facility.

We want facilities to feel secure that the therapy teams they are considering possess the appropriate skills, behavior and aptitude to safely visit their residents, patients, students, staff, and others.

As a result, we developed and maintain a database to enable facilities to locate and verify AMTHA Qualified Miniature Therapy Horse Teams in their area. Each team’s contact information and qualification history is provided via our database.

As an additional means to identify AMTHA qualified teams, each team is issued an expiration dated photo ID badge to present upon arrival at a facility.

When inviting AMTHA qualified miniature therapy horse teams into a facility, managers and activity directors can be assured that each team has been trained and professionally evaluated to offer safe, sanitary, interactive visits to the young, the elderly, and other fragile individuals.

AMTHA qualified miniature therapy horses can provide many benefits to nursing home residents, memory care patients, hospital patients, special needs children and adults, and people of all ages. They bring joy to all who meet them and bring back memories of days gone by for many.

The Human-Animal Connection and its benefits has been well researched and documented.Therapy horses touch humans emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually.

Petting an animal promotes the release of serotonin, prolactin and oxytocin which are all hormones that play a part in elevating a person’s mood. The good oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin increases in the body while the bad cortisol decreases.
Interactions with therapy animals can:

For Mental Health:

• Lower anxiety levels and help people relax
• Provide comfort and reduce loneliness, while increasing mental stimulation
• Assist in recall of memories and help sequence temporal events in patients with head injuries or chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s
• Provide an escape or happy distraction
• Act as a catalysts in the therapy process reducing the initial resistance that might accompany therapy

For Physical Health:

• Lower blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health
• Reduce the amount of medications some people need
• Breathing slows in those who are anxious
• Release hormones such as Phenylethylamine which has the same effect as chocolate
• Diminish overall physical pain
• Relax more during exercise

For Children with Autism:

Many children with autism feel a deep bond with animals and feel that they are able to relate better to them than humans.
Autistic children were engaged in significantly greater use of language as well as social interaction with their therapy sessions that incorporated animals compared to standard therapy sessions without them.

Source: https://www.uclahealth.org/programs/pac/about-us/animal-assisted-therapy-research

Don’t Be Fooled

They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, but that doesn’t always apply.

We have always been willing to share our expertise with hundreds of miniature therapy horse owners and handlers across the US and internationally. However, since the founding of AMTHA in 2014, copycat organizations have popped up.

Unfortunately there will always be those who have neither the knowledge or character to develop their own programs and choose to plagiarize the hard work of others.

In addition, some organizations and handlers use the term ‘Certified Therapy Animal’. This is a misnomer. Certification implies a guarantee by definition. The term ‘certified’ should be a red flag to facilities not to be drawn into a false sense of security. No person or organization can guarantee the behavior of an animal.