{"id":16840,"date":"2025-07-23T01:46:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T01:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/16840\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T01:46:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T01:46:10","slug":"not-horsing-around-vancouver-airport-is-1st-in-canada-to-feature-therapy-ponies-bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/16840\/","title":{"rendered":"Not horsing around: Vancouver airport is 1st in Canada to feature therapy ponies – BC"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you\u2019re one of the millions of Canadians who find flying to be stressful, would a little neigh help you get on your way?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bet Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is making as it introduces a pair of new therapy ponies it hopes to have on site two to three days a week to help soothe travellers\u2019 nerves.<\/p>\n

The airport has long featured therapy dogs, but YVR chief experience officer Eric Pateman said it recently connected with Green Acres Therapy Horses in Delta and decided it could do more for the 80 per cent of passengers who find airports stressful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to up our game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd thought what a cool opportunity to bring something that is a little bit different into the airport. They bring a whole new energy and as you can probably see behind me, a whole new level of engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

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YVR is the first airport in Canada and one of the first in North America to bring in therapy ponies.<\/p>\n

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The ponies, Magic and Tinkerbell, are already a massive hit \u2014 earning squeals of delight from children and attracting staff and even patrolling RCMP officers who wanted to say hello.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJust seeing all the faces smiling, it just makes our hearts melt,\u201d said Jacqueline Green of Green Acres.<\/p>\n

\u201cHorses release feel-good endorphins in us which just immediately make us feel better, and they also lower our heart rates,\u201d added Pamela Green, her identical twin sister.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a reset for everybody.<\/p>\n

The duo said they have personally lost family members to mental health challenges, an experience that has motivated them to share their therapy horse program.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re driven with that purpose and the horses are really helping provide that,\u201d Jaqueline said.<\/p>\n

The ponies are currently visiting with the airport on a trial basis, and Pateman said they\u2019re still working out a schedule \u2014 though Magic and Tinkerbell\u2019s appearances will be posted on the website so people will know when they\u2019re on site.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size If you\u2019re one of the millions of Canadians who find…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,2167],"class_list":["post-16840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-vancouver-airport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}