Bushman the therapy horse lifts spirits for aged care home residents

A visit from Bushman, the ‘Therapist with Hooves’ (pictured), proved to be an exciting treat for residents at the Marco Polo Aged Care home in Woonona – one-and-a-half hours’ south of Sydney.

The 19-year-old Appaloosa horse spends his days travelling to different aged care and rehabilitation centres in the area with his owner Christie Hall.

“I was working in a high care dementia unit and one day on my day off I thought I’d take Bushman in for a visit – we ended up staying for six hours,” Christie said.

“There were residents who never left their rooms, who left their rooms to see him … residents who never talked, who came and said hello to him. So now we spend our days visiting people in aged care and bringing smiles to their faces.”

Marco Polo’s care manager, Natalie Green, told The Illawarra Mercury that the response from residents to Bushman’s visit to the home was “incredible”.

“You hear a lot of negative things about aged care, but staff really do care – and they’re all thrilled to see the residents’ reactions to Bushman, to see how happy they are.”