MEETING WITH PEYO AND "LES SABOTS DU CŒUR"
The stallion Peyo and his owner Hassen Bouchakour, president of the association "Les Sabots du Cœur", are back at Equita Lyon this year, after the success of their first participation in 2019! "Les sabots du cœur" association uses a palliative care approach that is part of a scientific study. Peyo is a horse with exceptional cognitive abilities, which allow him to detect cancers, tumours and end-of-life cases. Since 2016, Peyo and his owner have been conducting their study in five hospitals in France. Together, they work with between fifteen and twenty patients every month, both children and adults. Peyo is free to move around the hospitals (the study concerns the paediatric oncology and palliative care departments in five French hospitals) and is able to identify patients who are arriving at the end of their lives. The animal helps inject life into these final stages. Once the patients have been "chosen" by the horse, Hassen takes over and works to help the patient accept the situation, so that it is easier to "let go". The patients are then accompanied by Peyo and Hassen until they die. The researchers are essentially studying the effects the horse has on the patients it has identified, particularly in terms of reducing intensive drug treatment.
Throughout the week at Equita Lyon, visitors can come and talk to Hassen and the association's volunteers about humanity, dignity, medical research and end-of-life care, under the benevolent eye of Peyo, in his stable box.