Painted Promise Ranch

10/09/2026

Another health and wellness event with Bliss this morning, spear-headed by Benevilla and held at Radiant Church in Sun City. This was a much bigger gathering than Monday’s, with I’d guess well over 20 companies and a much bigger crowd, I tried to walk Silver Dollar around the room and the idea was that Brian would make the circle with Arlo afterwards, but SO MANY people wanted pictures of and/or with Silver Dollar we didn’t even make it all the way within our time frame. Arlo was a ham as always and garners his fair share of love and attention 🐕 I love how well he and Silver Dollar get along! Amazing morning for sure!!

10/09/2026

A different type of visit this week… we did a health and wellness event was event at Clarendale Arcadia on Monday with Bliss Hospice, to educate and bring attention to our pet therapy. All 3 boys were a hit as usual, and the red tennies got a lot of attention.

10/09/2026

Thanks to Tamara for the “ranch brand” window clings!! Finally getting to post them, they came last week but it has been awfully windy so I just got to put them on Monday morning 💙💙

09/22/2026

Why we do what we do 🤗

A 2026 study published in Scientific Reports by researchers at the University of California, Davis examined how a very short interaction with miniature horses and donkeys affected teenagers’ emotions.

The study included 61 adolescents, including 8 who were reported by their parents to have autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, or both. Each participant completed a single 3-minute interaction with two miniature horses and two miniature donkeys.

The teenagers were randomly assigned to either gently stroke the animals’ backs or give firmer scratches around their necks, while the animals were free to approach, remain with, or walk away from them.

After just 3 minutes, the teenagers as a whole reported feeling calmer, less nervous or anxious, less sad, less lonely, and less excited. Calmness increased from 4.75 to 5.39, while nervousness fell from 2.57 to 1.97, loneliness from 2.05 to 1.59, sadness from 1.62 to 1.33, and excitement from 4.99 to 4.52 on the study’s rating scale.

The way the animals responded also appeared to matter: teenagers who noticed the horses or donkeys displaying lip-wiggling behavior had larger reductions in loneliness, while those who saw an animal voluntarily walk away showed larger reductions in sadness.

09/19/2026

Thanks to my friend Lisa and her coworkers Chris and Mary for joining me at Inspirations of Peoria yesterday morning 🤗 and to Jamie for inviting us! Since there were four minis, Sir Galahad went to work today and got to wear the new magnets!! Silver Dollar and Shazam were joined by Ozzie and Trinket 🥰

09/17/2026

Third Wednesday is Cogir of Peoria… we had the extra pleasure of meeting Chelsea, the granddog of one of the residents, who is working toward becoming a therapy dog and was very intrigued by the minis! She was super sweet and chill 🥰

09/12/2026

Due to a conflict for them next week, we visited Lake Pleasant a week early… and since it was 9/11, we went patriotic!!! I didn’t get any photos inside but weren’t the boys looking good??? And I picked up the door magnets for the Lorry on Tuesday so this was their first trip too!!

08/22/2026

Third Friday means Lake Pleasant… Trinket gave the boys a break today since I wasn’t able to get helpers, I couldn’t decide whether to take the horse boy or the donkey boy… so I took the girl 💝

08/20/2026

Third Wednesday is now Cogir of Peoria each month… so blessed to have two facilities on board for monthly visits now! Silver Dollar added several ladies to his harem lol 😂, everyone wants to kiss him 😘 and poor Michael, he’s allergic but such a trooper, always willing to help!! Trinket gave Shazam a break today, otherwise he would have had 4 visits in 8 days… since he’s 24 and it’s so awfully hot 🥵 I’m trying to be careful with him!!

08/19/2026

Residents and staff enjoyed the boys at the Bliss Hospice sponsored visit at MorningStar Arcadia today 🤗