Clip-clop of hooves cheers up care home

Horse is a regular visitor and staff see ‘extraordinary positive effect’ on residents

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Heart-warming stuff on the national FranceTVinfo website as they showed the delighted reaction of residents in an elderly care home as a special visitor came to see them – a horse called Peyo.

Twice a month Peyo and handler Hassen Bouchakour walk the corridors and into the bedrooms of the Ehpad home in Dijon where they meet residents who have developed a real affection for the horse.

The visits help boost morale in the home and also seem to be enjoyed by Peyo, with Mr Bouchakour saying there seemed to be an empathy with many of them.

Care home staff say the visits, which are part of an initiative called Les Sabots du Coeur, have had an “extraordinary positive effect” on the residents.

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