Mini therapy horses ride skateboards, play keyboards, and more!

If you need some uplifting and heartwarming content today, head over to the Instagram account "Mini Therapy Horses," which features eensy equine empaths adorably doing their very best work in a variety of settings like children's hospitals, veterans' hospitals, courts, retail stores, and more.

For instance, check out this video, where you can see mini therapy horse Black Pearl in her cute little horsie shoes kicking a soccer ball to a physical therapy patient at Shriners hospital, which is helping the patient learn to use her new prosthetic. And here's Valentina Blue visiting a store in Malibu shortly after the fires earlier this year. Valentina Blue and the other horses ventured out during that traumatic time to provide comfort for first responders and other community members. Valentina Blue also makes regular visits to the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Hospital, where she's a favorite with veterans, doctors, nurses, and staff.

The horses love learning skills that they then showcase when working with patients. For example, here's Valentina learning to ride a skateboard. And Black Pearl can walk on her back legs — you can see her here showing off her skills for a very impressed doctor! Most of the horses can also play the keyboard, much to the delight of those lucky enough to enjoy their music. Here's Blue Moon playing keyboard when she visited patients and staff at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center, and here's Black Pearl on keyboard helping a patient named William relax before his surgery at Shriners for Children Medical Center. And what's even cooler is that William got to accompany Black Pearl with his guitar! The therapy horses also like to be there when children are waking up after surgery, as evidenced here by Black Pearl waking up a patient up with her enthusiastic keyboard playing.

Mini Therapy Horses was founded by Victoria Nodiff-Netanel in 2008 and is, according to its website, "a recognized leader in equine assisted activities (EAA) and equine assisted therapy (EAT) with miniature horses." Their website provides further information about the organization:

Mini Therapy Horses conducts regular visits at Shriners for Children Medical Center in Pasadena, Ronald McDonald House in both Pasadena and Los Angeles, the Department of Children and Family Services Juvenile Court, UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, UCLA Santa Monica Hospital, the Greater Los Angeles Veteran's Hospital and L.A. Family Housing, amongst others. Whether comforting children bedside after surgery as they come out of anesthesia or visiting with a veteran who just wants to sit quietly and share space with one of our horses, the MTH team is there to bring a sense of calm, comfort and happiness.

As members of the LA Mayor's Crisis Response Team, our highly trained teams offer resources and support to survivors of traumatic incidents city-wide. These little horse heroes have responded to tragedies like the mass shootings in San Bernardino, Las Vegas and Thousand Oaks and also served as first-responders during the Woolsey Fire.

Learn more at their website and see many more photos and videos of the horses in action on their Instagram.