We believe in magic!

That's right. At PERSONAL PONIES, we believe in magic—the magic that happens between a tiny pony and a child with disabilities.

Creating magic in children's lives IS our mission. It's our only mission.

On magic wands and fairy dust...

Making magic for children with special needs doesn't happen by itself though. In the real world there are no magic wands, no fairy dust to sprinkle. The kind of magic we make takes caring hearts and helping hands. Lots and lots of them.

Our volunteers are our recipe for magic. And we can only make our magic because hundreds of people throughout this country give their time and resources to breeding, raising and training ponies, to finding just the right match between a pony and a child, and to serving as mentors to families in caring for their ponies.

There are also volunteers who sponsor ponies by maintaining them themselves so that they are available for “visiting” by families who cannot keep a pony at their home. These children may visit several times a week to see “their” pony and to care for their pony in all the ways they can.

Sponsored ponies, as well as ponies placed specifically to promote PPL, also serve the wider community by being taken to visit at convalescent homes, day care centers, therapeutic riding centers, and treatment centers. One of our mottos is “have pony, will travel”—our ponies go anywhere kids will benefit from seeing and interacting with them.

How much magic can we make?

As we said, there are no magic wands or fairy dust in real life. Only in fairy-tales. Therefore, placing ponies with kids who want them also depends on having ponies available in the right place at the right time. Without breeding farms to supply ponies, and without volunteer sponsors and promoters that place ponies and work with families, there simply may be no way to provide a pony in a specific area. And sadly, sometimes no matter how hard we try to fill an urgent need, kids who have asked for a pony do not get one in time. Hundreds are waiting right now...

In other words, if we are going to make LOTS of magic, we need LOTS of volunteers. And we also need funds to buy more UK Shetlands so we can establish more breeding farms so we can make more magical ponies.

Wouldn't YOU like to help?