About the Program

 

"You Make The Difference" (YMTD) is a program that registers miniature horses for use in therapy. They do not need to be registered with a miniature horse registry or association to qualify for this registration program. A therapy trained miniature horse that is registered in our program will receive their certificate of registration as a therapy horse with either a gold or silver star depending on amount of training and/or therapy visits they have done. A Gold Star means the horse has been fully trained by The Therapy Angels Program and has done at least 20 therapy visits OR has had between 40-60 hours of training through their extensive and detailed therapy training program. This means they have been exposed and trained for walkers, wheelchairs, beds and all the noises, sounds and tight spaces that go with nursing facilities (or any therapy type facility). They are even taught obstacle work over jumps, tarps, poles and to go up and down steps and a ramp. Silver Star Horses are usually always young horses in training like foals that have completed their therapy training on the farm and are ready to start going out on visits. Foals must be evaluated to make sure they are physically and mentally ready before they start going out on visits. Silver Star Therapy Horses are classified as therapy horses in training, which means we are acknowledging they have limited therapy experience. A Silver Star therapy horse can upgrade to a Gold Star once their level of experience has been reached and completed. A therapy horse that has been an ambassador for therapy and has over 40 therapy visits will upgrade to a Blue Star on their certificate in honor of their long term service as a therapy horse. Blue Star Certificates are good for 2 years. 

 

For further detailed information on the training process and our program in general go to our question and answer page link found on the home page.

 

The Silver Star & Gold Star Certificates are only valid for 1 year and must be renewed after it has expired. We want to make sure that if any of these therapy horses have exchanged hands from the Therapy Angels to a new owner, that the training they had received by them has not been altered in anyway by the new owners which might have an affect on them doing their job properly.  Any knowledgeable trainer will tell you that any horse that is mishandled improperly can undo any training and cause the horse to lose trust. It is important to us to keep track of how the horses are being handled and treated. Any program that does not put expiration dates on their certificates are not looking out for the best interest of the horse nor do they care about the training they put into them. But we do! Also with Silver Star horses, we want to make sure that the new owners are continuing to work with them so they can eventually get their gold ribbon status. Remember it is up the the new owners to be responsible and not undo the training that has been put into the horse. In fact other therapy registration programs also have expiration dates. If a therapy registration program does not have an expiration date on it's certificate it is most likely not a true registration program.  There are NO  "certification" programs for therapy horses ONLY registration programs. Any program that is not a true registration program and is claiming to only be a certification program is NOT a legit!.  

 

When renewing the certificate, current pics and a short 30-60 second video showing the mini working in a nursing home or any therapy type environment that shows them interacting with people will be required along with a fee of $100.00 to cover the cost to print a new certificate. Altering a Certificate in anyway will result in the horse being immediately removed from this program's registry.

 

The Certificates will have the name of the horse, birthday, color, breed and pictures of the horse it is being registered to that way the certificate is unique and can not be used on any other horse except the one it has been registered to.

 

Please note that "You Make The Difference Program" is simply a program that provides a certificate of registration that shows that a mini is registered in our program as a trained working therapy horse.

 

"You Make The Difference Program" is a registration, not a certification. Certification implies that the "You Make the Difference Program" has participated in both the handler's and the animal's training together, whereas registration just requires training and screening. The "You Make The Difference Program" does not certify that the horse is trained to a certain level. Instead, the horse is registered as having met the minimum training requirements with The Therapy Angels Program.