Therapy Ponies Ease Pre-Flight Stress at YVR

Magic (left) and Tinkerbell (right) with their handlers at YVR

Anxious about flying?

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has therapy dogs or ambassador dogs to help soothe pre-flight jitters, as part of the airport's Less Airport Stress Initiative (LASI) program that started in 2017.

And now YVR is trialling miniature therapy ponies, making it the first airport in Canada to do this.

"At YVR, we're always looking for creative ways to bring new solutions and amenities to the travel experience, so when we thought about what's the next evolution of the LASI program, introducing therapy ponies... was a great fit," explains Eric Pateman, chief experience officer with the Vancouver Airport Authority.

Magic is three years old, and Tinkerbell is 17, and they are from Green Acres Therapy Horses, which trains the ponies to be experienced in high-traffic public areas like shopping malls, schools and seniors' homes. 

The trial period this summer will see how Magic and Tinkerbell do in the stressful airport environment and the feedback from passengers, though so far it's pretty positive. If all goes well by the end of the pilot, Magic and Tinkerbell may be hanging around YVR more often, along with the therapy dogs from St John's Ambulance.

Therapy llamas a Portland International Airport

Other airports have used different kinds of therapy animals. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has a "wag brigade" that has calmed passengers since 2013. The team includes 27 dogs and one hypoallergenic pig named Lilou.

Meanwhile last year Portland International Airport started having therapy llamas and alpacas in its terminals to ease passengers' stress levels.

Guess these llamas and alpacas don't spit on humans! Otherwise that would add another stress level to people in the airport!