On a brisk October morning, two miniature horses, Pearl and Aiden, clambered into a minivan from a riding center in Long Island.
When they emerged again, they were on the busy streets of Manhattan — greeted with warm smiles and cheers from a group of seniors living at Sunrise at East 56th, an assisted living facility on the Upper East Side.
For more than a decade, the equine therapy program, HorseAbility, has been bringing Pearl and Aiden to seniors to combat loneliness, depression, and even dementia.
“Animal therapy helps bring something out of the residents,” Alyssa Friedman, a program director with Sunrise East 56th, told the New York Post. “It’s so important for their mental health. It opens up their world.”
One resident, Joann Girsh, said she experienced that firsthand when Pearl kept circling back through the crowd and placing her head in Girsh’s lap.
“It made me cry. I felt like I had a friend,” Girsh said. “She had unconditional love for me — you don’t have to be smart or pretty. You don’t find that in people anymore. I love that animal.”
“They really are special animals,” added volunteer Denise Ryder. “Horses can sense a person’s warm energy; they just gravitate toward it.”
A version of this article originally appeared in the 2026 Mental Health Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header images via Optimist Consulting
