"Reading Is Magic!

Thank you Girls Horse Club for making Gentle Carousel the organization you adopted this year!

"Magic and Gentle Carousel,

  Inspiring children to read is magical.  You are making a difference!"

 Chris Soentpiet - Acclaimed children's book author and illustrator

Magic and Moonbeam behaving like pros for a television interview at the Ronald McDonald House.

"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!      

Best, Jon " Jon Provost - Appeared as Timmy Martin on Lassie

Winning photo of Therapy Horse Circus and the Grady House Dalmatians.

 Look for Therapy Horse Circus in Spring 2009 EquuSSource Magazine

Therapy Horse Magic with four-time Olympian and ten-time US Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year, Karen O'Connor.

  Look for Therapy Horse Stardust in Horse Illustrated magazine.

Contest winning photo of Therapy Horse Circus.

Feature article about Gentle Carousel in Miniature Horse World magazine.

A heroic pet is one that "has significantly improved or saved a life".  Ten finalists were selected from across the country by AARP Magazine as the "ten most heroic, original and inspiring" pets in America.  Magic was chosen from the finalists as the winner and Most Heroic Pet in America.

AARP Magazine is the world's largest circulation magazine with over 25,000,000 subscribers. Look for Magic in the May/June 2010  issue.

Photos from the Ocala Star-Banner. 

While a reporter was taking photos of a therapy horse visit, a woman who had not spoken since she arrived at the assisted care facility three years earlier began talking to therapy horse Magic. "Isn't she beautiful" were her first words.  "It's a horse".  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.  Before Magic left the woman asked, "Will she come back again?" Six months after Magic's first visit the woman is still talking!

Activities director Linda McSorley responds to hearing Kathleen Loper speak to Magic after not speaking to anyone for the three years she had lived in the Hampton Manor assisted living facility.

 Ann Marie Malave

Regional Activity Coordinator and Community Liaison, Hampton Manor  

 "There’s not a word to even describe it. It’s more of a feeling when you see them interact. It just can bring tears to your eyes.

  We had a resident who did not speak. And the horses came in and for the first time she spoke words. Everybody cried. It was just the most touching, heartfelt experience I ever had. You can’t even put a word on it. When you see something like that happen, somebody who has not spoken in years, and this horse, this beautiful creature comes in, and the residents petting and holding and hugging and then speaks words. Everybody cried. It was wonderful.

They’re the bridge. They connect our residents with maybe a memory, a feeling, something that they’ve done in their life. It’s just such an experience. There’s no words to describe it.

 That was a miracle...

  They donate their time, their expense, their volunteers to come and share with us and change the lives of the residents that live here.

They spread a little bit of Magic in everyone’s lives when they come and it’s donated."

Therapy Horses Magic and Moonbeam on ..

Article from Gainesville Sun newspaper.

Therapy Horse Magic appearing on The Ilene Silverman Show.

Magic and Moonbeam on the news again at the Ronald McDonald House.  Gentle Carousel Therapy Horses brought a sleigh with stuffed toy horses but the real horses got most of the attention.

Magic in front of a television camera at a Reading Is Magic event.

Aaron Daye/Staff photographer-Gainesville Sun

Jenna Davis, 2, reacts to being tickled by Magic, a 2-foot-tall miniature horse provided by Gentle Carousel.

More television for Magic.

  Magic at station WOCA with "AM Ocala Live" radio hosts Larry Whitler and Robin. She stayed for the half hour Gentle Carousel interview. See more photos of Magic at the WOCA Photo Gallery.

Magic on television (at the Ronald McDonald House).

"Milky Way"  and Magic on at a Reading Is Magic event.

 Great new feature story in the March 2009 issue of Miniature Horse World magazine.

Magic in The Observer at High Springs preschool.

Magic is the daughter of:

Magic is the granddaughter of:

Pedigree for Magic

Gentle Carousel Therapy Horses is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity.

Your donations are tax deductiible.

There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man." ~Winston Churchill