A four-legged, hooved UF Health Shands Rehab Hospital volunteer is now in a national hall of fame.
Magic, an 8-year-old American Miniature horse, was inducted into the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Horse Stars Hall of Fame as a humanitarian for her inspirational impact on the public.
She works for Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses, which has a partnership with UF Health Shands Rehab Hospital. The hospital treats patients who have suffered traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, burns, amputations, strokes or major joint replacements.
It is also the training hospital for the therapy horses.
Amy Kinsey, a UF Health recreation therapist, said Magic helps patients as they work on standing, reaching, walking and communicating during therapy.
“We have patients that haven’t showed any verbal expression since they have been here but end up smiling after interacting with the horse,” Kinsey said.
Debbie Garcia-Bengochea, Magic’s owner and education and media director of Gentle Carousel, said all of the horses do amazing work, but Magic tends to be in the right place at the right time.
“She seems to find the person in the room that needs someone the most,” Garcia-Bengochea said.
Magic travels around the country to visit communities in need, like Newtown, Connecticut, after the Sandy Hook tragedy. More than 600 people crowded around the Newtown library just to see Magic, Garcia-Bengochea said.
Magic was named one of Time Magazine’s Top 10 Heroic Animals, one of six awards Magic has earned. She also has her own book, “The Power of Magic,” published in 2014.
Magic spent last Christmas at the Ronald McDonald House, and she spent New Years Eve donning a tuxedo shirt while visiting UF Health Shands Rehab patients.
“Rehab is so hard,” Garcia-Bengochea said. “To be able to have something that is so interesting and distracting to allow patients to do something they didn’t think they can do is what it is all about.”
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 2/27/2015 under the headline “Therapy horse works her magic, inducted into hall of fame”]
Magic, the 8-year-old American Miniature horse, stands in a field while on a walk. Magic, who is a therapy horse, was inducted into the U.S. Equestrian Foundation’s Horse Stars Hall of Fame for her inspirational impact on the public.
