|
Gentle
Carousel Therapy Horses is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit charity.
Your
donations are tax deductible. Help us grant wishes, make
memories and bring a little magic into the world.
Gentle
Carousel Inc.
P.O. Box
1672
High
Springs, FL 32655
Phone:
352-226-9009
MiniHorseTherapy@att.net
Rainbow in a
huddle with two time Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP
quarterback Phil Simms.
"Keep up the wonderful work you do. I often tell
people that Lassie was the first therapy dog--the first to
be allowed in hospitals more than 50 years ago!"
Jon Provost, Appeared as Timmy Martin on Lassie
"...Gentle Carousel, you are wonderful, gentle, caring
people! "
Marlo Thomas,Actress,
producer, best selling author, four-time Emmy winner
and activist for children's causes
Rainbow with THE
DUKES OF HAZZARD star Tom Wopat.
Sundance
reading at a Boys and Girls Club with former NFL and University of
Florida quarterback Doug Johnson for an Associated Press
photo and literacy poster.
Gentle Carousel
was selected a charity partner in Disney's volunteer program
"Give a Day. Get a Day."
"Your Reading Is
Magic program and volunteers are heroes every time they walk
into a school or library. Using little miniature
horses to inspire young children to read is most creative.
Congratulations on your wonderful charity, spirit and
service to your community."
William
J. Bennett,
Former
Secretary of Education
Magic
was selected AARP's Most Heroic Pet In America and appeared in two
AARP magazines.
James Gurney,
Best-selling author and illustrator of the Dinotopia book series.
Canine
movie star Benji working with Magic.
"What
they are doing is just so incredible. They are making a difference. These
people are the real deal. They are down there in the trenches doing it."
Joe Camp,
film
writer, producer, director, bestselling author and man behind canine superstar Benji.
"Gentle Carousel... Thank you for all of your hard work!"
Joan Lundon,
Journalist, author and television host
Magic with four-time Olympian and
ten-time US Female Equestrian Athlete of the
Year, Karen O'Connor.
Magic with David O'Connor,
president of the United States Equestrian
Federation, Olympic gold medalist and Pan
American Games and World Equestrian Games
medalist.
Gentle
Carousel was featured in Woman's World magazine.
"Reading Is Magic!
Every child you inspire to
read is a life forever changed. Thank you for that and for bringing books to
life...It can take you from outer space to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Either way, the journey is magical.
...Wow. Love those
little horses... Great job you're doing. I'm proud of you."
-Homer Hickam, #1 New York
Times Bestselling author and NASA engineer
"What you have to get across is that these are highly
trained horses. They go into an environment, a
situation, circumstances where only a trained horse such
as this can navigate himself... They seem to have an innate sense of how to go to the
person they are there to comfort."
Ilene
Silverman, Executive producer and host of the The Ilene
Silverman Show.
"...I think
that the use of horses is wonderful for children with
self-regulation and attachment issues (the classic
problems with so many children in the CPS system as you
are aware)...Keep up your work. With
Respect"
Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.Senior Fellow
The Child Trauma Academy
"...I just wanted to take the opportunity to write you a
letter expressing my amazement with your miracle
miniature horse "Magic". As I read about all the
miraculous things that have happened in her presence, I
was absolutely stunned. It is amazing that despite the
modern marvels of medicine and how much that field has
advanced in my lifetime, that sometimes there remains an
unexplained element to health and recovery that is
covered by miraculous creatures like your horse..."
Senator Steve Oelrich
"Magic and Gentle Carousel, Inspiring children to read is magical. You are making
a difference!"
Chris Soentpiet, Acclaimed children's book author and
illustrator (Thank you for the beautiful artwork you donated
to help Gentle Carousel's Reading Is Magic!)
"My own daughter, who has Down Syndrome has been
touched by Magic. I have been able to see first hand what
these animals can do just with my own child...This program
benefits so many different population bases. They can reach
the elderly, the terminally ill, children with developmental
disabilities, children with needs in reading...there are
just so many opportunities to reach so many people in
need..."
Lance Block, Chairman for the Governor's Commission on Disabilities
"What 'Reading Is Magic' does for kids by going into
schools and igniting excitement for reading a story is beyond
compare. Keep the hoof beats going."
Carl Joseph, author and Hall of Fame
athlete
"What an honor
and thrill to have Gentle Carousel's Sundance as a riveting character in JASON AND ELIHU."
Shelley Fraser Mickle,
Award winning author and National Public Radio commentator
Sundance smiles
for a fan then kisses one of his photos in the novel JASON AND ELIHU
as an autograph.
"You have a wonderful program. Thank
you for bringing joy to children... Keep reading! It is magic!"
Anna Grossnickle Hines,
Author and illustrator of over 50 children's books.
"...Thank you for all the work you
do...Reading is Magic!"
Linda
Sue Park,
Bestselling author and Newbery Medal
Winner
|
LOVE
IS...An Everyday Valentine
Magic
and Rainbow's new children's book Love Is...An Everyday
Valentine has been released. It is now available
at
Wild Onion Press
and
Amazon.com
Love
Is...An Everyday Valentine is a children's picture book
with a focus on vocabulary building. This book will delight
children while giving them valuable vocabulary building
concepts.
Peanut
and Aladdin stop by a book signing for Love
Is...An Everyday Valentine.
Sage,
one of the book's stars, signs for a fan.
Another
book signing for Sage and Aladdin.
Book asks
kids about love
By Alison Schwartz
Correspondent
In “Love is … An Everyday Valentine” by High Springs
author Debbie Garcia-Bengochea,
10 children describe
what love means to them.
Ask 6-year-old Sage Clarich
what love is, and she’ll
tell you in three words or
less.
“Love is love,” she
said.
It’s a lot of wisdom
coming from a
kindergartner at High
Springs Community
School, but it’s not the
first time she’s weighed
in on the topic — a
topic that has stumped a
fair share of great
thinkers and guys with
guitars alike.
In a book by High
Springs author Debbie
Garcia-Bengochea, Sage,
along with nine other
children, are stealing
some of St. Valentine’s
thunder in an effort to
tell the world what love
is all about.
The book, “Love Is ...
An Everyday Valentine” —
which Sage will be
signing Sunday at the
Millhopper Shopping
Center — features
photographs of children
“of different
ethnicities and physical
differences” spending
face-time with two mini
ponies, Magic and
Rainbow, from Gentle
Carousel Miniature
Therapy Horses, a
nonprofit organization
founded by Garcia-Bengochea,
according to the
publisher.
Each page of the book
completes the thought
posed in its title, and
the words were selected
from a sight-word list
students are expected to
learn by third grade.
From “happy,” the word
on Sage’s page, to “a
hug,” love is a lot of
things in Garcia-Bengochea’s
children’s book. And
while it might be a word
thrown around to the
point of ad nauseam,
especially when
Valentine’s Day is
around the corner, Wild
Onion Press publisher
Shelley Mickle said the
book isn’t specific to
Cupid’s favorite
holiday.
“That affection that we
express to each other
just on Valentine’s Day
can last all year,”
Mickle said. “That’s why
we call it an everyday
Valentine.”
They may be young — too
young, perhaps, to know
about the times Cupid’s
arrow hits the hardest —
but Mickle said the
youngsters featured in
the book know what love
is. Kids know these
things, she said.
“Any baby a month old
knows what love is,” she
said. “They might not be
able to say the word,
but they know.”
The book signing — which
will be with Sage, book
photographer Jennifer
Anfinson, Garcia-Bengochea
and Rainbow — will kick
off at 1 p.m. at Book
Gallery West in the
Millhopper Shopping
Center, 4121 NW 16th
Blvd., and will move to
the Publix in the same
plaza, 4115 NW 16th
Blvd., at 2 p.m
Rainbow and Gentle Carousel's Reading Is Magic received the
Literacy Award from the Alachua County Literacy Network (with Terri
Hutchinson, Literacy Coordinator of Alachua County Library District
and Gainesville mayor Pegeen Hanrahan) for Outstanding Contribution
To Literacy.
|
Gentle Carousel miniature horses promote
library programs |
|
|
|
Kaylen See (left), her brother, Johnny, and
mother, Angie See, visit the Gentle Carousel
miniature horse, Magic, at a special reading
program in the Main Branch of the Columbia
County Public Library Tuesday afternoon. (LakeCityJournal.com
photo)
|
Miniature horses step out of the pages of
children's novels to inspire reading
|
 |
|
Kendra Smith, (from left), Bobbie
Leslie, Katie Beach, Abby Beach,
Jacob Harry and Hailey Leslie smile
at their grandmother as they pose
with Rainbow and Jorge Garcia-Bengochea.
(LakeCityJournal.com photo) |
 |
 |
|
Debbie Garcia-Bengochea greets
guests at the Gentle Carousel
program at the Main Branch of the
Columbia County Library on Tuesday.
(LakeCityJournal.com photo) |
|
By Karl Burkhardt
North Florida is horse country, but the 200 or more
people who visited the Gentle carousel programs
Tuesday had never seen anything like Rainbow and
Magic.The two miniature therapy horses visit
often patients in hospitals and homes, but they also
inspire children to read books.
Each of the Gentle Carousel horses looks exactly
like the main character in a children’s book. Gentle
Carousel reading programs encourage groups of
children to read a book. At the end of the program
they get a special treat – a visit with the horse.
That concept has become so successful and so
inspiring that authors now are writing books
featuring Gentle Carousel horses.
Friends of the Columbia County Public Library
sponsored the Tuesday visits to Fort White and Lake
City.
In Fort White, the Library used the Community
Center for the morning program because a large space
was needed.
Two adjoining meeting rooms in the Lake City Main
Branch were filled with families in the afternoon.
These were two of the largest reading programs
the library has sponsored said Stephanie Tyson,
Library Program Specialist. Friends of the Library
promised to sponsor future programs with Gentle
Carousel.
Debbie Garcia-Bengochea noted that Sundance, a
beautiful silver buckskin color horse, stars in the
recently published children's novel Jason and
Elihu, A Fisherman’s Story, published by Wild
Onion Press.
Wild Onion Press publishes books featuring
children with various physical differences. Their
philosophy is that a physical difference is not a
disability, it is merely an outstanding
characteristic.
Photos of Sundance appear in Jason and Elihu. Sundance's
outgoing personality was captured by author Shelley
Fraser Mickle, including his love of peppermints and
his talent for smiling Debbie said. Sundance makes
special appearances with Gentle Carousel's Reading
Is Magic programs.
A portion of the proceeds of this book is being
donated to Florida's foster care system prevention
programs. Books can be purchased at Publix.
On Tuesday, Magic and Rainbow were the stars of
the show.
And guests were told the story of how Magic
became the AARP “Most Heroic Pet of the Year.”
Magic was visiting the Hampton Manor assisted
living facility in Belleview and was introduced to
Kathleen Loper. "Isn't she beautiful," said Ms.
Loper. "It's a horse!"
Ms. Loper had not spoken a word since she arrived
at the facility three years earlier. The activities
director began to cry and told the woman she loved
her. "I love you too," the woman answered – her
first full sentence to another person in three
years.
At the County libraries, none of the visitors
needed inspiration to speak. But all the books about
animals that Stephanie Tyson set on display for the
event were checked out by children as they left the
program.
For more information about Gentle Carousel, the
many animals and the programs, visit
http://www.horse-therapy.org
Gentle Carousel is a non-profit organization and
depends on donations to support the therapy and
reading programs. |
 
Gentle
Carousel Therapy Horses is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit charity.
Your
donations are tax deductible.
There is
something about the outside of a horse that is good for the
inside of a man." ~Winston Churchill
Gentle
Carousel Inc.
P.O. Box
1672
High
Springs, FL 32655
Phone:
352-226-9009
E-mail: MiniHorseTherapy@att.net
Home
Page
|
Princess Tea Part
