Ponies with purpose

Organization brings together disabled children and forever friends

By PATRICIA A. RUSSELL, Valley Breeze Staff Writer

LINCOLN - As someone who'd always done volunteer work with animals - raising pups for Guiding Eyes for the Blind and doing pet therapy with her rottweilers through Therapy Dogs International - it's not surprising that Janice DelFarno, who owns a pony, would connect with an organization that brings ponies and young children together.

It all began five years ago when the Lincoln resident and her husband, Tom, bought Double Stuff Oreo after the birth of their first grandson. "There was just something about Oreo," she recalled. The couple had looked at lots of ponies.

But when DelFarno's grandson was old enough to sit on Oreo, it was discovered that he was highly allergic to him. Of course, by then, all family members loved the pony and didn't want to part with him. Other children in the family started to ride him and, because of his sweet nature, he was sent out to learn to pull a cart, referred to as "learning to drive."

That's when the wheels started turning, said DelFarno. "Since I had done other volunteer work with animals, I thought: 'What if we shared Oreo with other children?'"

After doing online research, she came across the Personal Ponies Web site.

She contacted the founder of the organization, Marianne Alexander. As a breeder of horses and ponies, Alexander had discovered the sensitivity of UK Shetland ponies to children with disabilities.

The only organization of its kind in the world, Personal Ponies provides disabled children with a UK-type Shetland pony to love and care for, completely without charge.

Founded by Alexander in 1984 in New York, Personal Ponies has grown into an international organization involving hundreds of volunteers, with programs in most states. Since its founding, the organization has placed more than a thousand ponies, said Alexander in a telephone interview.

Although the nonprofit organization usually uses UK Shetlands, it accepted Oreo as one of "their" ponies because of his temperament, said Jodi-Ann Cifelli, director of Personal Ponies for Rhode Island.

Cifelli, of Scituate, got involved in the program seven years ago when a neighbor suggested she might be interested in getting a pony for her then-3-year-old-son, who has a hearing loss.

The neighbor, too, got a retired Personal Pony from the program. She invites children to her farm to care for it.

Cifelli has two such ponies and brings them to fairs and 4-H events to raise awareness of the program. It's not unusual for her to invite parents and children to her farm to visit the ponies. She's got a menagerie of other animals at her Scituate home, too.

As the state's director, she's found ponies for four children. They are each child's pony for life, if so desired.

Some volunteers in the organization are breeders.

Of the program, Cifelli said she wants to get the word out of its existence. She knows first hand how the ponies help children.

A Woonsocket teacher, she said her son's pony helped him get over some fears he had. Once a horse bonds with a child, the love they give is boundless, she said.

DelFarno agreed. "Oreo is unflappable," she said. Kids can brush him, lead him, drive him and ride him. And, balloons could be popping, fireworks going off, kids screaming - "he remains calm," she said.

When DelFarno learned a child in her grandson's school was undergoing aggressive medical treatment and loved horses, she arranged for the child to meet Oreo.

"It was a perfect match," said DelFarno, adding that, though frail, the 8-year-old had the biggest smile on her face.

Oreo was "given" to her to have forever, said DelFarno, a radiologic technologist.

As a volunteer sponsor, DelFarno retains ownership of Oreo. The girl's family lacks the facilities to keep him, and the DelFarnos want to keep him. The arrangement works out well, she said.

Sometimes, the girl is ill and can't visit. When she expressed concern that Oreo would forget her, the DelFarnos made a stall sign with Oreo's name and her name under his so she'd know he is "hers."

They share a special bond, said DelFarno. "She snuggles up to him and he patiently stands there and you can see he loves the attention," she said. When she rides him, he walks slowly. "He seems intuitively to know that this is a very special little rider that he needs to take care of."

Although this is strictly volunteer work, there is "no amount of money that could equal the reaction of the children whose lives are enriched by this organization," DelFarno said.

For more information call Jodi Ann Cifelli at 524-8832. Contact Janice DelFarno at jand460@cox.net. Or visit the organization's Web site at: www.personalponies.org .