ATHENS, Greece — Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, a smile spreads across the little girl's face. Blinking behind her glasses, she inches her wheelchair forward and gently reaches out to stroke the tiny gray horse.
Soon, 9-year-old Josifina Topa Mazuch is beaming as she leads Ivi, a specially trained miniature horse, standing no taller than her pink wheelchair, through the school hallway.
''I really want them to come again,'' Josifina said of Ivi and a second miniature horse, Calypso, after a November morning visit to her Athens primary school for children with special needs. ''They made me feel really happy.''
Ivi and Calypso are two of nine tiny equines from Gentle Carousel Greece, a Greek offshoot of Florida-based charity Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses offering visits to hospitals, rehabilitation centers and care homes.
Trained over two years to work comfortably in confined environments and with vulnerable children and adults, the horses, which stand about 75 centimeters (30 inches) tall, provide a form of pet therapy that carers say offers valuable interactions and learning experiences, particularly to people confined to hospitals or care homes.
But the charity they are part of is struggling to make ends meet — run by one woman who funds the entire operation herself, with one assistant and no support team.
How it all began
Started in 2014 by Mina Karagianni, an interior architect and designer, the Athens operation is the only one affiliated with the Florida-based charity outside the United States. Karagianni came across Gentle Carousel while scouring the internet for information on caring for an abandoned Shetland pony she had rescued.