Small horses, meaningful connections
Team Minis
Shaggy, Daphne, and Penny are Team Minis, our three rescued miniature horses. They connect with seniors, children, volunteers, and the wider community through time together, training, walks, and everyday care. And carrots. We should not leave out the carrots.
Who they are
Three lovely ladies with very big opinions.
We do not know much about the ponies before they came to us, and when they arrived they were new to everything: new people, new barn, new routines. What we learned quickly is that each one has a personality all her own. Daphne has an adorable grin, a dramatic streak, and firm opinions about vet visits and Shaggy’s snoring. Penny has sass, is occasionally late for breakfast, and is steadily learning to trust through patient groundwork. Shaggy is frisky, ornery, and famous for the Shaggy dance and for finding mischief whenever the humans are distracted.
Their days are built around care: morning walks on the Homestead for cardio, grooming and braiding, fly-spray practice, regular hoof trims from the farrier, dental floats, grazing muzzles, clean bedding, and cool shade in the summer heat. It is not just grooming. It is connection, and it is how three horses who were new to us became a team.
What Team Minis does
The animals have something to offer, too
Senior-home visits
Our community outreach program brings the ponies to local senior living communities, including Brookdale Senior Living, Homestead Senior Living, and Overland Park Post Acute, and they have helped celebrate National Nursing Home Week.
Students and youth groups
Visits with Spring Hill middle schoolers and youth groups give kids a chance to groom, lead, and learn what gentle handling looks like.
The Team Minis volunteer team
A dedicated crew walks, grooms, and works with the ponies every week. Hay, It’s Friday is their standing date, and new volunteers are always welcome.
Tea parties and brunch with the girls
Our Mini Pony Tea Party and brunch gatherings invite the community to spend an unhurried morning with the ponies, braids and all.
Trust and training
Groundwork, stretch exercises, and slow trust-building with Penny show that confidence is built on the animal’s clock, the same promise we make to every dog and cat.
Every post, in full
The Team Minis archive keeps the complete Facebook timeline of Shaggy, Daphne, and Penny, from their very first introduction forward.
Open the archive →Why ponies belong in a rescue
Connection runs in both directions
Always & Furever has always taken in the lives other places could not make room for: a dog with a terminal illness, a cat who has lost all trust, a mini horse seeking safety. Team Minis fits that promise, and they also give something back. A resident who has not smiled in weeks lights up when Daphne leans in for a scratch. A nervous student finds steady hands on a lead rope. A volunteer learns that patience is a skill.
The animals are not merely receiving something from people. They have something to offer, and we built Team Minis to let them offer it.
It isn’t just grooming. It’s about connection.
From the Team Minis timeline
Keep the hay coming
Hay, grain, farrier visits, dental floats, and fly spray add up. Your support keeps three very opinionated ladies healthy and on the road to the people who need them.
A few moments we’ve shared on Facebook
See every post →What Makes Us Different
Explore our other initiatives
Different ways to care. One promise: an animal’s life deserves to be meaningful while we are responsible for it.
