Miniature therapy horses bring hope, healing

By MICHAEL NUNES
Staff Writer

 Above: Valor, a Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horse, was named in honor of Kenneth Tietjen, a Middletown resident who lost his life in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Right: Valor and Magic visit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. Above: Valor, a Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horse, was named in honor of Kenneth Tietjen, a Middletown resident who lost his life in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Right: Valor and Magic visit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. They are there soon after disaster strikes to ease tragedy for children and adults alike. The day after the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, they were there to comfort children who lost schoolmates.

And when the Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses are not visiting sick children or those who have lost loved ones in the line of duty, they are helping at-risk children succeed in school.

On May 21, the Middletown-based Kenneth F. Tietjen Memorial Foundation sponsored a visit by the miniature therapy horses with students in Hazlet public schools.

“You could just see every face up against the window,” said Debbie Garcia-Bengoche, who walked the horses into the schools to interact with students.

 PHOTOS COURTESY OF GENTLE CAROUSEL MINIATURE THERAPY HORSES PHOTOS COURTESY OF GENTLE CAROUSEL MINIATURE THERAPY HORSES Garcia-Bengoche is education director of Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses, an all-volunteer nonprofit whose teams of tiny horses visit more than 35,000 adults and children each year in hospitals and hospice programs, and children who have experienced traumatic events. To earn the distinction of a miniature horse, equines must be 34-38 inches as measured from their mane. They weigh around 70 pounds. Therapy horses are trained for two years before beginning their mission.

In addition to easing trauma, Gentle Carousel sponsors the award-winning literacy program, “Reading Is Magic,” which brings the tiny horses into schools to inspire young readers.

That mission is shared with the Tietjen foundation’s Aspire program, which helps children who are struggling in school to set goals and achieve them.

“It gives kids who have never been recognized a chance to shine,” said Laurie Tietjen, president of the foundation, which was founded in honor of her brother, Kenny, a Port Authority police officer who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.

The main goal of the Tietjen foundation is to work with local police in helping underprivileged children throughout New Jersey. The foundation provides educational assistance to students from low- and moderate income households to encourage them to finish high school or continue on to higher education.

The bond between the Tietjen foundation and Gentle Carousel began with American Valor, a miniature therapy horse named in honor of Kenny last year. Gentle Carousel’s newest foal was born on July 4, sharing Kenny’s birthday.

When the nonprofit asked for suggestions for the foal’s name, Laurie asked that it be named for her brother.

“They had over 30,000 submissions,” she said.

She then received a phone call from Garcia Bengoche telling her that American Valor had been chosen in honor of her brother.

The Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses visit ailing children in hospitals around the country.

“When a real horse walks into a hospital room, it’s amazing,” Garcia-Bengoche said. “There’s a magic with horses — every little girl wants a pony. There’s just something special about the way that children respond [to the horses],” Garcia-Bengoche said during a visit to Tietjen’s Lincroft farm.

Both women had just returned from New York City, where American Valor and Magic visited mounted units of the New York Police Department and children who had lost loved ones in the line of duty.

“They were all tough, and the second the horses walked in, they said, ‘Oh my God,’ ” Tietjen said of the police officers’ reaction when they saw they miniature horses for the first time.

She shared the powerful effect a visit by the Gentle Carousel therapy horses can have for a child who has lost a loved one in the line of duty, recalling a quiet child who began to tell the horse how much he missed his father.

“Sometimes kids will open up to horses in a way that they can’t do with other people,” Tietjen said.

For more information, visit www.horse-therapy.org.