PRESS RELEASE: May 2016

Seneca Falls, NY. Tiny horses will share a big message at the 2016 Empire Farm Days.

Jessica Gulvin of Heart O’Gold Equine, Geneva, NY, will bring her miniature horses, standing no more than 36 inches tall, to the largest outdoor agricultural expo in the northeastern U.S. on Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at Rodman Lott and Son Farms in Seneca Falls, NY.

The Empire Farm Days Equine Center, sponsored by Layden Fence and Livestock Systems, will host Gulvin and national champion Emerald Acres Clownfactor, also known as Chloe, standing 36 inches tall. Gulvin will present 11 am and 2 pm demonstrations on competing with miniature horses and training them to visit nursing homes, daycare sites, veteran hospitals, schools and other venues to provide an equine brand of unconditional love and therapy on Tuesday only.

Gulvin and Chloe have earned six Pinto Horse Association State Champion awards and one National Championship, and are in the process of earning National Therapy Animal Certification that will allow them to visit more locations.

“I am thrilled to show visitors to Empire Farm Days what miniature horses can do and how they help people,” says Gulvin, a Wells College graduate now a second-year veterinary student at Ohio State University.

The pair has made therapy visits to sites in the Penn Yan, Canandaigua, Seneca Falls areas and Aurora areas since 2008. In 2011, Jessica, with Chloe, was the first youth keynote speaker at the Cornell University 4-H Animal Crackers event with more than 350 people in Ithaca, NY.

While at Wells College in Aurora, NY, Gulvin founded only the second collegiate 4-H program in New York state. Her idea for a nonprofit business that became Heart O’Gold Equine to provide equine therapy to senior citizens, children, and others won a business development award. She is a graduate of the Marcus Whitman FFA Chapter.

The Equine Center Round Pen Seminars are a popular feature at Empire Farm Days with 300 acres with exhibits, demonstrations, seminars, and activities. The 2016 event will take place August 9, 10 and 11 with different Equine Center presenters each day. Learn more at www.empirefarmdays.com.