Meet the Equicizer Team! - Amanda Elia

This week marks the third installment of our "Meet the Equicizer Team" series!

Amanda Elia

Director of Social Media

Churchill Downs, June 2017

Amanda is from the North coast of Ohio and was born in the same city where the Equicizer workshop is located, Norwalk! Her experience with horses dates back farther than she can even remember. This lifelong love was nurtured by lessons on her aunt's Appaloosas, riding lessons, volunteering at various barns, friends offering their horses, and finally at age 15, a horse of her own. Amanda was very active in high school in National Honor Society, college classes, track and field, and of course 4H! After high school, she went on to earn her BA in English with a focus on writing and a minor in Spanish Language at the University of Toledo. After college she worked as a writer for a while before falling into what she calls her "accidental career" in healthcare. Currently, Amanda manages a family medicine practice near Cleveland in addition to her work with Wooden Horse Corporation.

Where did you grow up?  

I grew up in Huron, Ohio, which is just about dead center along the northern edge of the state. For all but three years of my life, I lived in a house on the south side of town with a cornfield in my backyard. Beyond the cornfield there were woods and behind one row of houses, there was a valley separated by a crick lined by willow trees! It was a quiet, idyllic, happy place to grow up!

I couldn't say "Marcella"
so Marella it was!

What is your earliest memory?  
One of my earliest memories is sitting on the big hill in front of our first home. I would sit there with my mom and wait for my dad to come home from work. For some reason, I named it the "Miss Marella" hill after a duck from one of my (many) favorite childhood books about a duck that paints the moon.

Did you have any pets as a child?  What kind?

Jasmine

My first pet was a cat I named Jasmine after the Disney Princess, of course. I had many cats, a hamster, an African Clawed frog, fish, birds, and a dog named Moose, I was also famous for insisting on nurturing various wild animals back to health including a dove we named Tess and a robin.

What did you do during the summertime?

Growing up in Northern Ohio, I had Lake Erie a few blocks north of home and endless woods and fields all around me. I loved to swim (I could swim before I could walk), lay on the beach, walk through the woods, fish, and of course go to Cedar Point! We also had a zoo membership and went often.

Grandpa Ralph

Who was the most influential person to you as a child?

I could write a book on the influence of my parents, but besides the two of them, one of the most influential people on me was my Grandpa Ralph. He always made me feel like I was the absolute apple of his eye. He was proud of everything I did and always made me feel special. On a more somber note, losing him when I was six taught me about grief and the value of appreciating the time you have with your family members. I think losing him made me appreciate my other grandparents even more.

Who was your best friend?  Are you still in touch with them?

Lindsay & I at my
wedding at Nickajack Farms

My best friend was and still is Lindsay. We were inseparable and many people thought we were sisters. Though we went to different colleges and she lives in Cincinnati now, we will always be best friends. She was the matron of honor in my wedding last August.

What is your definition of “happiness”?

Being around horses! There is so much value in the activities we enjoy "unplugged". I love that horses give me so much time to connect with nature.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

What spare time? Kidding. I love to travel with my husband, Eric, read, exercise, ride, and garden. I still actively compete with Chester in English Pleasure and speed classes. Since we were married last August, Eric and I have traveled to Jamaica, Las Vegas, and Chicago. Over the next year, we have plans to visit Houston, Toronto, and the Bahamas.

What equine in your lifetime made the biggest impact on you and why?

The first time I met
Chester at his old home.

As mentioned earlier, I got my horse Chester when I was 15. A few years prior, I had actually been banned from asking for a horse because my parents felt bad that was not something they could give me. My mom had told me to pray for one because God was the only one who could provide that. Well, He did! My dad came home from work one day and said his boss was looking to re-home her own horse's pasture companion as she was moving to full board. My parents discussed it and said I would have to pay the expenses. I readily agreed, met Chester, fell in love, and found a boarding farm just down the road that only charged 75$/month! I went to Mexico on a mission trip and my parents said they'd decide by the time I got home. I came home from Mexico on my 15th birthday and they suggested we stop out to the boarding facility to check it out. I was bummed they hadn't made up their minds and became agitated when my dad just strolled out into the pasture, telling him he couldn't just make himself at home! My mom grabbed my arm and pointed saying, "Amanda look at the horse he is walking toward". They had gotten Chester for me when I was away... the rest is history!

What horseman made the biggest impact on your riding/horsemanship and why?

Dumplin & me at County Fair

Being that Chester was a 7 year old OTTB who had just had 2 years of turnout, our first year or two together was quite rough. Joining 4H was the best thing I ever did. In addition to the support of other leaders, I linked up with a trainer named Wendy who took me under her wing and transformed me as a rider. I also showed her mare, a TWH named Copy's Apple Dumplin. The combination of being able to learn on her mare and my own horse really helped me make strides (no pun intended) in Chester's training. I still love catching up with her and consider her the most influential person on my competitive career.

How did you become a part of Wooden Horse Corporation?

My brother helped on a construction job for Frankie and linked us up!

What is it like working in the Wooden Horse Corporation office?

I typically work remotely, but I treasure the quarterly in-office check-ins because spending time with Frankie and Kayla in person is so fun! When the three of us get together, we really get on a role with ideas and planning. Moreover, the office is a great place in and of itself. If you are in the area, I recommend making an appointment to check it out. There is lots of history there and fun things to see!

What do you think the future holds for Wooden Horse Corporation?

The future is very bright for WHC! Without giving too much away, there are so many cool new directions the Equicizer will be going in the next 5 years.

www.equicizer.com

Equicizer Identification

Did you know that each and every Equicizer has an identification number unique to that specific Equicizer? Equicizer creator, Frankie Lovato, created this identification system back when he made his very first Equicizer in 1981. The identification system has remained largely the same, with some small variations as the Equicizer has evolved through the years.

As you may already know, Frankie created his very first Equicizer in 1981, out of pure necessity, to help himself rehab from a badly fractured leg sustained in a racing accident. (You can learn more about how and why this Equicizer came to be by reading more here.) After that first Equicizer creation, Frankie had no intention of building more but word slowly got out and other riders began seeking a tool that would allow them to rehab and stay in shape, so in 1984 he built his second Equicizer, for Hall of Fame Jockey Laffit Pincay. Some more time lapsed but word was continuing to spread and by 1988 Lovato had more Equicizer requests from fellow jockeys.

The 100th Equicizer built in 1991 belonged to
Hall of Fame Jockey, Eddie Maple. This was before
the development of the body motion. It is now used
in the Jockeys' Room on the New York Racing circuit.

In these early years, there were few options, aside from body color, and there was only one Equicizer model. This model did not have body motion and was sold primarily to others jockeys. The identification numbers for the Equicizer in these early years were comprised solely of a series of numbers.

In 1993 Frankie created his very first Equicizer with body motion, which gave customers the option to choose between the original model that featured neck motion only and the newer model with body motion. By 1994 almost everyone was choosing the latter. These two Equicizer models were differentiated between with the letters "T" for traditional or "M" for motion.

By the end of the 90's, partly due to the addition of body movement in the Equicizer, interest from riders of every discipline all around the world had increased dramatically. At this time Frankie introduced an Equicizer model with a fully hand carved and detailed face and a more basic model without these additional details, for those that were concerned only about the benefits the Equicizer offered, as opposed to the finer artistic features. For record keeping, these were defined as the G1 model and the G2 model, which has morphed into what we know today as the Equicizer Elite and the Equicizer Classic models, respectively.

Upon the completion of each Equicizer, before it is packaged and leaves our workshop, it is assigned an identification code which identifies the model ("E" for Elite or "C" for Classic), the year and month it was built, as well as the order it was built in regards to the number of Equicizers that came before it. Every Equicizer is also personally signed by Frankie himself (as seen in above photo).

Do you have your own Equicizer at home or at the barn? If so, take a peek underneath the rear back panel of your Equicizer and you will see his or her unique identification code as well as Frankie's autographed signature!

by Kayla Jarvinen

www.equicizer.com