Do You Believe in Magic?

What is magic? Is it a sleight of hand card trick? Is it a spell cast upon a character in your favorite cartoon? Magic means different things to different people.

In High Springs, Florida, Magic comes in the form of a jet black, blue-eyed miniature horse recently named the Most Heroic Pet in America by the American Association of Retired People (AARP). Whether you are two or 102, this Magic is something we all can believe in.

Magic is part of the team of Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy horses that visit children and adults in hospitals, hospices and at their homes in the northern Florida area. The horses will also travel further for Make-A-Wish requests. Owned and operated by Debbie and Jorge Garcia-Bengochea, Gentle Carousel has been transforming the lives of all they visit.

Debbie and Jorge originally got involved with horse therapy as a way to work with their foster and adopted children. What started out as therapy on a personal level has turned into the Gentle Carousel program of today. As word spread of their work with at risk and abused children the requests for visits began to rise. This interest in a horse therapy program is what spurred the official creation of Gentle Carousel Inc, in 2001.

Today Gentle Carousel features 26 miniature horses in its non-profit, volunteer-based program. There are no paid staff positions at Gentle Carousel; everything from photography to serving on the Board of Directors is done on a volunteer basis. But when you see the smiles on the faces of children and adults who receive therapy visits, who needs a paid position?

Unlike other horse therapy organizations where participants go to a destination to ride the horses, Gentle Carousel brings horses to people. But that’s not the only difference; all of the horses in the Gentle Carousel program are under 30” tall, with many around 27” at maturity.

According to Debbie, “All our horses must have two blue eyes and the more dramatic their markings or color the better.”

As you can imagine finding just the right horses to be part of the therapy program is no easy task.

Aside from being breathtaking in a small package, small size is very important when it comes to visits. The therapy horses must be able to navigate around medical equipment in patients’ rooms and along the hallways of hospitals and hospices. They must also be able to walk up and down stairs, ride in elevators, walk on different surfaces from carpet to tile and ignore distracting sights and sounds.

Becoming a therapy horse is hard work!

In order to get potential therapy horses prepared for anything that might come their way, Gentle Carousel starts the training process early on.

Debbie explains, “We breed a few horses at home and also work with local breeders, so it makes it easier to start ‘imprinting’ at birth.”

Imprinting is a way to desensitize the foal to human interaction from the beginning. As soon as the foal is born a handler touches him/her all over and begins introducing them to strange sights and sounds.

She continues, “We want the foal to experience sensations he/she will experience as a therapy horse and accept it at an early age before fight or flight instinct takes in.”

This intensive training program typically takes two years. However, it’s important to remember even though the process starts at birth, learning never truly ends. There is always something new to expose the horses to. Once the training ends, the visits begin for Gentle Carousel horses. In 2009, Debbie and Jorge were able to bring the Gentle Carousel experience to over 4,000 individuals.

According to Debbie, “Every visit is different, but they all bring a little magic into someone’s life.”

The visits can be modified to meet the needs of the visit participants. However, no matter what the visit is like the main goal is always to cheer people up and give them hope.

Prior to arriving for a visit to children, Gentle Carousel volunteers always read a special poem about “Magic Horses” written by Debbie. The poem talks about magic horses that have blue eyes and are sprinkled with fairy dust.

“All of our therapy horses have blue eyes and we make sure they have ‘fairy dust’ sprinkles for each visit,” explains Debbie.

Whether it’s fairy dust or a costume, the horses aren’t opposed to dressing up if it will make a child’s day. Recently a little girl in hospice requested the Gentle Carousel horses join her and her friends for a tea party. Outfitted in tuxes handmade by volunteers, the horses joined the sick girl and her friends and cousins, ages three to six, who were sporting magnificent princess dresses for a tea party of a lifetime.

For some a visit by Gentle Carousel can be the highlight of their lives. This was the case for a six year old boy who had spent his entire life going from hospital to hospital. When the horses came to visit him, he spent the entire time hugging them and laughing.

With tears in her eyes and a smile on her face his mother said, “He’s never had a happy day before today.”

Many of the children who get a visit from Gentle Carousel horses have never touched a horse before. However, their small size and winning personalities make it so no one is afraid of them. When a child’s visit comes to an end volunteers leave stuffed horses and coloring books as souvenirs to keep the magic alive.

Visits at assisted living facilities are just as magical. Seniors who had horses as part of their childhoods are reunited with these amazing animals allowing happy memories to be remembered.

“A good day at a nursing home is when the horses come home with lipstick kiss marks all over them, in all sorts of shades,” explains Debbie.

At nursing homes especially, some residents choose only to come out of their rooms on horse visit days.

One such assisted care facility visit helped Magic earn her “Most Heroic Pet” title from AARP. “A woman who had not spoken since she arrived at the assisted care facility three years earlier began talking to Magic. ‘Isn’t she beautiful” were her first words and then she exclaimed ‘It’s a horse,’” recalls Debbie. “The activities director suddenly began to cry and told the woman she loved her.”

Debbie continues, “’I love you too,’ the woman answered.” She has continued to talk since that magical visit.

Magic has also been present when a person woke from a coma. In another touching moment, she comforted a gentleman as he passed away while petting her. With these types of visits and reactions it’s no surprise that Magic is the most requested member of the Gentle Carousel Team.

Debbie adds, “Magic is requested so often that she actually has an understudy.”

In addition to the hugely successful Gentle Carousel therapy program, Debbie and Jorge Garcia-Bengochea are going into the third year of their Reading is Magic program. Gentle Carousel with the help of "Magic" and friends bring tiny horses inside schools, libraries and at-risk youth programs to inspire young readers. This program takes classic children’s books and brings them to life, by having horses that look exactly like the characters in the story visit children at schools and libraries.

“Once the teacher or librarian reads the book, the characters come into the room,” says Debbie.

A former school principal, Debbie has a passion for ensuring that all children learn how to read. According to Debbie, “If children aren’t reading well by third grade it will be hard for them to catch up later on.” Poor readers are at increased risk for dropping out of school, substance abuse, delinquency and poverty.

Debbie and her team certainly have gotten the interest of children peaked in the areas “Reading is Magic” serves. Last year the summer program had to turn kids away at a number of the events as the numbers exceed fire code regulations. You don’t generally see a summer reading program overfilling rooms.

Gentle Carousel horses look like the characters out of Misty of Chincoteague, National Velvet, The Black Stallion and more. One of the horses, Sundance was featured in the book Jason and Elihu. Not only was his personality captured on the pages of the book, but at special appearances he will “sign” the book with a kiss for lucky boys and girls. There are two more easy reading books in the works that will feature Gentle Carousel horses.

Once the horses leave the classroom or library, the fun doesn’t stop. Young readers are encouraged to keep up with their new horse friends through Facebook and e-mail. Each horse has its own e-mail account so the children can stay in touch.

Whether it’s bringing books to life or bringing smiles to the faces of the sick or elderly, Gentle Carousel horses fill this tall order day after day. Although they are small their impact is huge on the lives of those they touch. Through a variety of touching stories the impact of these small creatures can be felt. And now you know, if you get a call from an elder relative or school age child in Florida telling you there are horses at school or in their room, there might just be.

Gentle Carousel currently feeds Triple Crown Safe Starch Forage to all their miniature horses. Safe Starch Forage came recommended by Joe Camp the creator and director of Benji films and famed author of “The Soul of a Horse.” Debbie says, “For the past year we have been feeding Safe Starch Forage. All the horses are happy and their coats look fantastic.”

For more information about Gentle Carousel Therapy Horses and the Reading is Magic program visit http://www.horse-therapy.org and http://www.readingismagic.org.

If you've met Magic, Sundance or any of the other Gentle Carousel therapy horses, we'd love to hear all about it! Tell us your stories in the comments section below.