Patrick the Pony makes international animal heroes hall of fame
The therapy pony is well known for visits to hospitals
Last updated 12th Oct 2026
Patrick the Pony's been recognised in the worldwide ‘animal heroes hall of fame’ for 'going above and beyond'.
The Cockington-based therapy pony - who goes into Devon's hospitals - enjoys a worldwide social media following and has released a book, Christmas song and is known for enjoying a sip of Guinness.
Kirk Petrakis, from Community Pony CIC, said: "It's amazing to see how many people Patrick has inspired and made happy, and how he has such a loyal fan base.
"Patrick has a very calm nature and such kind eyes.
"When Patrick goes into hospitals he normally leads me to the patient that most needs him - it's like he's got a sense of the patient's needs.
"When Patrick goes over to that patient the smiles and the interaction and the eye-contact is just so lovely.
"Afterwards we have many nurses or staff say that the patient hasn't spoken for a week or been very unhappy, but after a visit from Patrick they'll talk about it for days and days afterwards. That is just priceless."
The pony was one named the ceremonial mayor of Cockington village and is also a mascot for the War Horse memorial.
Mr Petrakis added: "Patrick has over 160k followers on Facebook and 200k on TikTok and we do a lot of live videos on there which gives people the chance to ask questions about Patrick's therapy work.
"People also come from places all around the world like America, Bangladesh, Japan to come to Cockington village to come and see Patrick and have a tour walk with him."
There's more about the animal heroes hall of fame here