What have blue eyes, frequent McDonald’s and are about 20 inches tall?
Debbie Garcia-Bengochea knows the answer.
Garcia-Bengochea started Gentle Carousel Miniture Therapy Horses, home of the 27 miniature horses that match this description.
The nonprofit organization, located in High Springs, offers therapy to children, residents of nursing and hospice homes and people who’ve been abused.
Dara Cohen brought her 4-year-old daughter, Simi, to see the horses at the Millhopper Branch of the Alachua County Library District on Tuesday for Gentle Carousel’s last Valentine’s Day event.
Cohen couldn’t believe the size.
“But it’s not just that they’re cute,” she said. “They’re actually doing something really nice.”
Gentle Carousel also works with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office in community service projects, Garcia-Bengochea said, and will receive a community award for its impact.
Garcia-Bengochea started the organization with her husband to teach their four foster children to trust people by interacting with horses.
Ann Marie Malave can testify to Gentle Carousel and its horses’ influence.
She hadn’t spoken in years.
Garcia-Bengochea said Magic, one of the horses, walked into Malave’s nursing home. Malave starting petting her, talking to her and even said to her crying activities director, “I love you.”
She’s been speaking ever since.
The horses aren’t comfortable with humans naturally but are “imprinted” at birth, or touched and handled, to make the animals trainable and comfortable with people.
Once trained, the horses are taken to homes, hospitals and other locations where people pet them, hold them and read books written specifically for each of the horses’ characters.
Garcia-Bengochea said the horses are small enough to fit in cars.
She said they also puzzle workers at drive-through windows like those at McDonald’s, who assume the animals to be dogs at first sight.
