Our goal during each Caring Cowgirl visit is to simply bring a little joy to each person through interactions with our miniature therapy equines, Shakira and Vanessa. The visits are about 1 hour and are fully tailored to you! Elizabeth, the Caring Cowgirl, will show you how to safely navigate around the minis and can show you how to hand-walk them and groom them. If you’d like to learn more of their training as therapy minis and the story behind Caring Cowgirl, Liz will be there to tell you what it's all about. And if you just want to cuddle and take photos with the minis, we welcome that too. Y hablamos Espanol!

On-site: You are welcome to visit us at the ranch…Portola Pastures!

Off-site visits are also available if you are a family with needs, school, group home, or youth/family support facility. The minis are about the size of a Great Dane and can easily be transported in, you guessed it, our minivan!

No, but the minis can wish you or your loved ones a happy birthday via Facetime or Zoom! Our minis are specifically trained for therapeutic-style visits, this meaning that loud music and lots of activity happening around them is not in their best interest.

For Ranch Visits we ask for a $150 donation and for off-site visits we ask for $350-$500.

As cute as that would be, no rides are allowed on these rescue minis. Our magical little equines are for therapeutic-style visits and to be enjoyed by petting, brushing, hand-walking, or simply sharing the space together.

Height! An average size horse is about 5ft-6ft tall at the shoulder blade (aka “withers”) whereas mini horses are 25-34 inches tall at the withers.

A dwarf-mini horse has a complex genetic condition. Dwarfism can occur in several horse breeds, but is more prevalent in mini horses. Dwarf mini horses tend to be recognizable by their large head and disproportionately short limbs compared to their body.

The difference is height and breed. A full-size donkey is about 36-48 inches or 3 to 4 feet tall and miniature donkeys are 36 inches or shorter and are a natural size breed from Italy. Specifically from Sicily and Sardinia.

They enjoy hay and grass with the occasional carrot and apple thrown into the mix. They split one flake (5 pounds) of hay in the morning and another one for dinner.

Fun fact: One flake is approximately equivalent to 100 bowls of cereal. So Vanessa and Shakira enjoy about 50 bowls of cereal in the morning.

Thanks for offering, but no. Because the minis are so little and have sensitive stomachs, they can easily get sick from too much sugar intake.

25-30 sweet long years.

They are about the height of three cereal boxes stacked on top of each other. Vanessa is nearly 3 feet tall and Shakira is 2.75 feet tall.

Send an email to: info@caringcowgirl.org

We look forward to answering any questions you have!