“Our mini horses bring joy and healing to so many hearts!”
Retiree Terry Holmes-stecyk grew up on a horse farm and has been a lifelong rider. But when she took in two miniature horses, they blazed a new trail together, visiting hospitals, memory centers and libraries to offer unconditional love and comfort
Squeals of delight rang out as Terry HolmesStecyk made her way into the Phoenix library, the clippety-clop of hooves echoing through the room. “They’re here!” kids clapped.
After a career as a dental hygienist, Terry retired with her husband, Don, to a 5-acre ranch outside Scottsdale, Arizona. Terry, who grew up on a horse farm, loved roaming the Rio Verde foothills on her steed, Cowboy, and adopted a miniature donkey, Boone, to keep him company.
When Cowboy grew too old for steep trails, Terry sent him to a friend who gives riding lessons to kids. Now, it was Boone who was lonely—until Terry’s friends offered her two miniature horses.
Mazy and Dolly worked wonders on Boone’s spirits — and soon gave Terry a new purpose.
Since retiring, Terry was always looking for new activities to fill her days. One she came to truly enjoy had been accompanying her friend Linda, who had miniature horses of her own, to the local library so kids could read to them. Having a master’s degree in education, Terry had been saddened when Linda left the area, ending the program. But now, Terry had Mazy and Dolly…and an idea.
“I feel like God wants me to do this,” she told Don. “I’ve got a fun job for you girls,” she enthused to her small, hoofed friends.
Four-legged therapy
Over the next year, Terry got Mazy and Dolly certified as service animals and established the Tender Little Hearts Foundation (Tenderlittlehearts.org), an equine therapy outreach program.
Mazy and Dolly adapted quickly to their new role. They listened intently as the kids read to them, absorbed by their voices, enjoying the rubs, hugs and snuggles the children lavished on them.
“Reading goes better when it’s fun, and this is definitely fun,” Phoenix branch librarian Jane Staedicke told Terry.
“Parents tell me their children practice every night so they can read better to the horses,” echoed Christy Valentine, children’s librarian at the Maricopa County Library, where the horses also visit.
St. Vincent de Paul’s dining hall feeds 50 struggling families every night, and after dinner, the kids visit the Dream Center, a section set aside where they can play and work with tutors— and visit with Mazy and Dolly.
Many of the kids are trauma survivors, very skittish and untrusting. But when Terry shows up, the kids drop their walls, relax and enjoy grooming and talking to the horses. Sometimes a child even buries their face into the horse’s neck and unleashes a torrent of pentup tears. “I love you,” Terry has overheard more than one small voice whisper.
“The horses don’t judge. Their love is unconditional, and they bring God’s joy along with them”
Incredible bonds
Inspired by the healing power Mazy and Dolly had, Terry began taking them to visit hospitalized children. One day, as she was leaving the pediatric unit, a long-time adult patient, who couldn’t speak, heard the patter of hooves in the hall, and dashed a note to his nurse asking if she could take him to meet the horses.
Juan sat quietly with Dolly, their breathing easing into perfect sync. “It’s amazing,” the nurse whispered to Terry. “Except for medical treatments, none of us can remember the last time he left his room.”
That encounter led to many similar heartwarming moments as Terry and her girls began visiting nursing homes and memory centers. Residents grow excited when the horses enter their room and lay their head on the bed. They stroke the horse and sing to them, or finger the zippers and buttons on the fidget quilt the horses wear with their colorful service vests and share stories of long ago.
Mazy and Dolly love going on visits, along with their new miniature brother, Buddy, who entertains everyone playing ball, shaking hooves and ringing a bell.
“Even our donkey, Boone, now goes on an occasional visit,” says Terry, who never stops marveling over the positive effect that her animals have on people. “They don’t judge. They love unconditionally and bring God’s joy everywhere they go. And that’s life-changing.”