Being accepted to participate in the Tournament of Roses Parade is an arduous task, but Jeanne Candelario of Hemet got in with just a phone call.

Candelario and her family, who operate So Cal Mini Horse Sanctuary, came to the rescue of another miniature horse group when its animals became too ill to participate in the annual New Year’s parade.

Six of their horses will march Monday, Jan. 2 in Pasadena under the banner of Seven Oaks Farm Miniature Therapy Horses.

The Hamilton, Ohio-based group was accepted to participate in the parade, but as founder and president Lisa Moad was driving her horses across the country, they became ill and had to return home.

When Moad flew back to California and explained her dilemma, she was given 24 hours to find replacements.

Members of the parade’s equine committee gave her names of horse owners and she found Candelario, who was having dinner in Temecula when she received a call at 8 p.m. Dec. 23 asking if she had six parade-ready mini horses.

“I said we do,” she responded excitedly in recalling the conversation almost a week later.

The Candelarios’ horses even look similar to Moad’s, and the rose-strewn costumes will transfer easily.

“Everything seemed to fall into place,” said Moad, who wasn’t going to settle for just any replacements.

“This is who I am and this is on the world stage,” she said. “If I couldn’t find horses equally trained as mine, it was a no-go.”

The women called it serendipitous that they found each other, as the parade’s theme is “Echoes of Success,” which celebrates selfless contributions of others.

“It’s two teams coming together,” Candelario said. “It’s our minis marching, but they did everything to make it come together.”

Jeanne and Carlos Candelario and their oldest of three sons, Fabian, 17, will participate in the parade along with members of the Seven Oaks team.

The So Cal minis marched in the recent Temecula and Canyon Lake holiday parades, but have not done anything to the scale of the five-mile Rose parade route, where they will be No. 59 out of the 94 entries.

To get ready, the horses have been practicing all week.

The Candelarios use part of their sprawling ranch in northwest Hemet as So Cal Mini Horse Sanctuary, what Jeanne said is the largest mini horse rescue in the country.

Miniature horses are a specific breed and are not the same as a pony, which are larger. Mini horses stand in the range of 3 feet tall and weigh 200 to 250 pounds on average. They cannot be ridden, but can pull carriages.

So Cal Mini Horse Sanctuary houses 70 miniature horses and adopted out 50 this year. All were rescued from slaughter houses, auctions or poor conditions, Candelario said.

“We love these little guys,” she said. “No one was rescuing these minis. This exists because there is too much breeding, too much neglect.”

She called the effort, which the family operates with minimal donations, a labor of love.

“I’m so proud of these guys for what they’ve been through and where they’re going,” Candelario said.

Seven Oaks Farm Miniature Therapy Horses applied for entry into the parade about one year ago and was accepted in August. After filling out applications and other forms and designing costumes, a team of 30 people came to California to march or assist in the event, mostly at their own expense.

“We were all excited and ready to go,” Moad said Thursday. “It’s been a very long process.

The organization operates a number of therapy programs using the mini horses and also participates in community events in the Cincinnati area. Moad turned the trip into an outreach, making stops at children’s centers and military facilities along the route.

At some point, the horses contracted strangles, a contagious upper respiratory tract infection. So Moad drove the horses home – where she said they now are recuperating – and returned to California.

The illness is not related to the outbreak of the Equine Herpes virus in Los Angeles County, which forced the Tournament of Roses to cancel its annual horse show, EquestFest.

Both women hope to let people know about their programs through the parade, which is watched by millions around the world.

“Mainly it’s to increase awareness of what a therapy horses is all about,” Moad said. “The goal and the theme of this year’s parade fit in so well.”

Both also said donations and volunteers can help them expand their programs.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9086 or cshultz@scng.com