As Beverly Levitt walks around the 8-acre horse farm in Wesley Chapel, she talks to the animals.
There’s Moe and Clint. Chino and Cracker. Moon Light and Fancy. Renegade and Baby Bobby.
There’s Brandy, Fagozee, Cooper and Pixie.
Some of them, including Pixie and Moon Light, have been at Healing Horses, One Child at a Time Inc., since the horse rescue began six years ago.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photos)
As Levitt steps around the farm, in her shin-high rubber boots, she talks about the horses’ temperaments.
Chino arrived at the farm on Sept. 22 and has gained more than 100 pounds since.
Pixie, a pony, “has the Napoleon Syndrome,” Levitt said. “She runs this place.”
Renegade, “was completely wild when he came here. They had turned him loose on the side of the road in Hernando County,” she said.
Some horses have medical conditions. One has chronic ulcers. Another, narcolepsy. One has endured dozens of surgeries.
Fagozee, a former racehorse, had been sent off for auction, but was saved and Levitt wound up with him.
“He has cancer. His days are numbered. As long as he’s comfortable and happy, we’ll keep him as healthy as we can; and when his time comes, we’ll put him out.”
The horse rescue began when Levitt suddenly ‘inherited’ 11 horses.
She knew she would be taking in six, but didn’t anticipate getting nearly double that number.
At first, she was irritated. She was worried, too, about being saddled with so much responsibility.
“They were in bad shape,” Levitt said.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m a blue collar person, what am I going to do?’ ”
But then, during the middle of the night, she was inspired.
“I’d been a scout leader many years before, and we had always taken the ADD (attention deficit disorder) kids, the ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) kids — my husband and I, before he passed away.
“We had always wanted a center for kids with special needs,” she said.
Meanwhile, she also was blessed with a special needs grandchild.
“I have met hundreds of families (with special needs children). I had a full understanding of what just the therapeutic equipment needed by these children cost, and it’s not covered by insurance,” she said.
So, she decided to use the horses to provide therapy.
Over the years, roughly 50 horses have spent time at the rescue. Some are there now. Some have been adopted. Some have died.
During that same time, hundreds of kids have spent time working the horses, riding them, observing them, walking them and bathing them.
One recent day, Caitlin Okolovitch, who attends Land O’ Lakes High School, was working Brandy.
Okolovitch found out about Healing Horses when she and her mom were doing an Internet search to find a horse rescue. The teenager wants to work with horses.
She began volunteering at Healing Horses when she was in middle school.
“When I first came out here, it was awesome, and I never wanted to leave,” the 15-year-old said. “A lot of the kids coming here make bonds with the horses,” she said.
Brandy is the horse that Levitt uses as a therapy horse for teenagers, she said.
Kids can relate to the horses.
Devin Clark, another regular at the farm, has a special bond with a horse named Baby Bobby.
The 12-year Clark saddlebroke Baby Bobby, Levitt said. He was at the farm recently giving the horse a bath.
Clark said he enjoys working the Baby Bobby, and he thinks other kids like coming to Healing Horses, too.
Levitt said the horses have helped all sorts of kids.
Some have had scrapes with the law. Others just love being around horses.
Some come from as nearby as Zephyrhills, and Wesley Chapel and Land O’ Lakes, and others have traveled from Brooksville, Brandon and Pinellas County, Levitt said.
Many of the kids have special needs, such as autism, hearing problems, or difficulties at home.
Horses have an uncanny way of understanding these kids, she said.
“They have more compassion and sensitivity than any human being I’ve ever met,” Levitt said.
“You put a kid with a 1,500-pound animal that they can tell what to do, and watch your self-esteem grow, and their confidence and their abilities,” Levitt said.
“One child, with Down Syndrome, had no language when he came here. He learned a lot of words on the back of a horse,” she said.
Initially, Levitt supported the horse farm on her own.
But, she realized she couldn’t do it alone, and she set up a nonprofit organization.
For many years, a private donor provided much of the support.
But, that donor has decided to use the money she was providing to others to support her own charity, Levitt said.
“We’re in trouble. I’m not going to go down without a fight. Right now, I’ve got a barn full of feed, but I’ve got the feed bill to go with it.”
“You can only rob Peter to pay Paul for so long before it’s going to catch up.”
It costs about $2,000 a month in feed and more than $2,000 a month in hay, and that’s not counting the veterinarian bills, the farrier costs and assorted other costs.
So, Levitt is trying to build community support to keep the operation going.
If it closes, it would be shame, said Liz Clark, who said all five of her sons have benefited from spending time at the farm.
Levitt is seeking donors to pledge $5 a month to help keep the operation going.
“That is one Starbucks coffee a month. That is one visit to McDonald’s. Five dollars a month makes a lot of difference in a lot of lives, and it’s a tax write-off to boot.”
For more information or to help, visit HealingHorsesOneChildAtATime.com.
Published November 25, 2015
