Humans鈥� affiliation with animals is universal.

Anyone who has a dog, cat, or a guinea pig, will tell you they become part of the family. The idea that pets can be therapeutic is also nothing new.

Therapy dogs are more and more commonplace, however, a Google search of 鈥榞oat yoga鈥� produces nearly 25 million hits.

It was only a matter of time before donkey therapy caught on.

Cynthia Minden is a visual artist, and classical musician, who has an affinity for donkeys.

Approximately 20 years ago, Minden moved to Denman Island, where she discovered her love of the hoofed mammal.

Her neighbour had a donkey in his yard, and it took no time at all for its natural affection for humans to 鈥渏ump the fence鈥� to her place.

鈥淢y neighbour had been a director of the Calgary Zoo and I guess they had miniature donkeys there and he just loved them,鈥� said Minden. 鈥淗e thought when he retired to Denman, he would raise miniature donkeys. But his wife at the time said, like, you know, you鈥檝e brought home so many animals over the years, let鈥檚 maybe just have a dog.鈥�

And just like that, 鈥楬edley鈥� became part of the Minden family.

鈥淏ut the thing is, you can鈥檛 keep a donkey by itself. They鈥檙e really social animals, and they just suffer with loneliness on their own.鈥�

So along came Annie, 鈥溾�� and, you know, everything kind of unfolded from there 鈥� I became obsessed with learning everything I could about (donkeys).鈥�

Minden went to a conference in Calgary all about miniature donkeys, where she attended a workshop on positive reinforcement clicker training, and began training her donkeys.

She expanded her knowledge by learning all about donkey nutrition and then heard about Generation Farms, in Nanaimo, and a weekend course offered there on equine-facilitated wellness.

Four years of training later, Minter became certified as an equine-facilitated wellness learning professional, through the Professional Association for Equine Facilitated Wellness Canada.

From there, Minter combined her love of donkeys with her artistry and developed a facilitated wellness business.

Cynthia Minden Arts and Equine鈥檚 website describes the company as 鈥渆quine facilitated wellness and arts鈥�. working in nature with donkeys and creative art exploration.鈥�

Minden said there is a lot of massaging to find a cohesive mix between artistry and donkey therapy.

鈥淗ow do you connect the dots here between horses and donkeys and art making? Where are the common denominators? You don鈥檛 wanna have a client come and say, OK, let鈥檚 go and spend this quality time with the donkeys, and then let鈥檚 go over there and make a basket. You know, like it just, it needs to blend and kind of meld in a way that makes sense as a holistic experience.鈥�

Minden said her sessions usually start in the forest, where she will invite her clients to sit and focus on one sense; everything you can hear, with your eyes closed, or everything you can smell, or spacial awareness.

鈥淧eople are busy, and we are busy in our heads. So the experience is one to鈥� reawaken those sensibilities - not in a triangle way, but in a very grounded, down-to-earth way. It鈥檚 a very sensory experience.鈥�

Once the 鈥榟ead-clearing鈥� session is completed, the clients are introduced to the herd.

Rose, Dorrie, Siog and Heather are the working donkeys - equine counsellors, if you may. Rose is the oldest (27) and Heather is the smallest - and most vocal.

Clients will approach this part at their own pace. Anyone really nervous about meeting the paddock can stand on the other side of the fence and observe.

Minden said she has yet to have a client that didn鈥檛 want to enter the paddock, but there is an option.

The art aspect is pre-planned, typically based on the length of the workshop.

鈥淪ome people will book a 鈥榖undle鈥� so they will come four times, and with those we can start a longer project, that we can continue with each visit. But if it鈥檚 just a two-hour session, we might make felted balls out of donkey hair, or make tope out of plant materials, like daffodil leaves, iris leaves, lily leaves.There鈥檚 the connection to nature again.鈥�

There are art-making stations set up throughout the property, including some that are right in the donkey paddock.

To find out more about Minden鈥檚 equine-facilitated wellness sessions, visit .