I bring miniature ponies into nursing homes for a living. Some residents laugh, while others cry when they see them.

• Sarah Woodland was given two Miniature Shetland Ponies and wasn’t sure what to do with them.
• She started bringing the ponies into care homes after testing whether they could go indoors.
• Four years later, she has seven ponies and runs the business full time.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sarah Woodland, founder of Dinky Ponies. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Just after the pandemic, I started seeing two Miniature Shetland Ponies every single day in a field on my drive to work.

I’d worked taking care of other people’s horses as a groom — someone responsible for the daily care, health, management, and preparation of horses — for years, but I hadn’t worked extensively with Miniature Shetland Ponies before. For some reason, though, I’d always look for those small, sturdy ponies on my morning commute.

Wondering who they belonged to, I inquired about their owner and asked if I could come by to see them.

Long story short, a few months later, I was given those two ponies, not entirely sure what I was going to do with them.

I started a business with the ponies

I didn’t want them to just be field ornaments for the rest of their lives — they were horses that needed some sort of job to do. But the breed isn’t capable of doing too much due to their small size.

I messaged some of the mothers I knew to ask about their interest in stable management classes and sessions in handling the ponies.

Hitting what felt like constant barriers, I eventually managed to start hosting parties and one-to-one sessions in locations around me — like pub car parks and random fields.

Never having run a business before, I had to get to grips with organizing bookings, sending invoices, and managing a small business. It was a lot of admin to get my head around at the start.

By the end of my first summer of these sessions, I knew I had to find other work for the ponies because the weather would be changing and outside sessions weren’t going to work in the cold and rainy fall and winter.

Very randomly, I remember seeing a photo of a horse in an elevator and wondered if my ponies could be taken into buildings and up and down elevators.

To test it out, I called a friend who works at a children’s day care up the road from me and asked if I could bring one of the ponies into the building to see how it would cope indoors and with children.

There were no problems.

I started bringing the ponies to elder care facilities

Around the same time, I considered whether elder care homes would have budgets for me to bring the ponies in to mingle with elderly residents. I’ve never had experience in care homes, but imagined that being around the ponies would be a lovely treat.

I called a nursing home and asked if I could try it. I really didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but reckoned I would learn by trial and error.

The ponies coped, and the elderly residents absolutely loved the visit.

Four years later, I’m now taking my ponies (I have seven now) to care homes and residential homes to visit elderly people and children with special needs. It’s become my full-time job, and full-time passion.

I’ve faced a lot of unexpected challenges along the way. There was no model to follow and no blueprint to copy. Everything I’ve built, I’ve built myself, learning as I’ve gone along.

I had to learn from my mistakes

Of course, I’ve made mistakes too, but with mistakes comes learning, and every challenge has taught me something. I’ve learned what works, what doesn’t, what I’d do differently, and most importantly, how to keep moving forward.

As the ponies’ feet are quite slippery on laminate floors, I’ve finally found shoes for them that don’t look silly. I don’t like the idea of making the ponies look ridiculous, because they’re working animals and should be treated with respect.

When I take the ponies into a building, they totally trust me. They know I wouldn’t put them in a position where they’d feel unsafe. It’s the same when I take them into an elevator. I have given them positive reinforcement by giving them a little mint each time they go into the elevator. I must always remain calm because, in doing so, they too stay calm. They are intelligent animals that know whether I’m stressed or not and mirror my state.

Having not spent time in a care home, I suppose I wasn’t prepared for how much I would need to learn about what people living in care homes need. I’m now constantly learning to understand how people feel when they see the ponies. I’m learning what the right things to say are, and perhaps what things I shouldn’t say.

I’ve really enjoyed my conversations with people when I’m walking through with the ponies, and I find it hard to move on from a conversation when my hour of visiting is completed.

While I limit my visits to one hour for the ponies’ welfare, I revisit the care homes throughout the year so that different people have a chance to see the ponies. I would rather my visits include a limited number of people who get quality time to talk with me and interact with the ponies, rather than rushed “show-and-tell” sessions where residents only get a little time to pet the ponies before I move on.

I can’t figure out why the elderly love the ponies so much. They laugh, and sometimes they cry when they see them. You never know what the reaction will be. Perhaps there’s something about their tiny size that makes them appear young and foal-like, not realizing that they are all actually very old.

And of course, when we visit residential homes for children with special needs, or nurseries with young children, the children adore the ponies. I’ve taken my sons along to these visits, and have felt immensely proud watching them interact with the children as they guide the ponies.

I never thought this was what I’d be doing for work and with my life. It’s been incredibly hard and not hugely profitable, but equally fulfilling. I wouldn’t want to do anything else right now. I’m living my dream — making ponies and people happy all at once.