By Francis LaBelle
Frank Lovato Jr. knew early in life that he wanted to be a jockey. He shadowed his father, a leading jockey on the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred racing circuit during the 1970s and followed in Dad’s boot steps. Lovato, however, has always wanted more.
For instance, just riding horses wasn’t enough. He became the Eclipse Award winner as the nation’s top apprentice in 1980. That launched a career that ended with retirement in September 2004 after he had ridden in 15,604 races and won 1,686 of them. Among those victories were 111 stakes triumphs.
Lovato was also an accomplished musician, but he wasn’t content to just sing. So, he learned to play guitar, keyboards, drums, pedal steel, a bit of banjo, write and even produce his own songs.
Still wanting more, Lovato even had three kids.
These days, Lovato continues to thrive as the owner of Equicizer, the mechanical horse that has been a mainstay of racetracks and jockey homes for decades. In 1981, Lovato invented the contraption during a 10-month convalescence for a broken leg suffered while riding. The Equicizer was a way for him to safely rehabilitate and train before he decided he was fit and comfortable enough to get back on a real horse.
“I was still on crutches, but I was able to ride my Equicizer,” Lovato said. “I got into shape and the first morning I returned to the track, people kept coming up to me and asked me when I was going to start riding again. I told them that not only had I already worked six horses that morning, but [trainer Johnny] Campo named me on one to ride in a race. That blew everybody away because they had not seen me at the track and couldn’t figure out how I was physically fit enough to ride without getting on horses. It was pretty funny.’’
The speed of Lovato’s recovery caught everyone’s attention and before long, Lovato began getting orders to build more Equicizers, which started popping up at racetracks as well as at jockeys’ homes. They were used not only to help riders recover from injury, but to maintain fitness, warm up before races and even give veteran riders a teaching tool to help younger, less experienced jockeys.
“I bet that almost every Hall of Fame jockey over the past 30 years has one in their home,’’ Lovato said. “They were everywhere. [Hall of Fame jockey] Chris McCarron used one to train [actor] Tobey Maguire while shooting racing scenes for the movie Seabiscuit. I even remember seeing [TV celebrity] Al Roker on one of them.”
Lovato is zeroing in on 1,900 Equicizers, each built by his own hand. He has kept track of his work, signing and dating each one. Recently, Lovato discovered that two of his Equicizers are in use at places connected to the Saratoga Springs-based Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF). One resides at North Country Horses, where the TRF boards some of the former racehorses in their herd.
“She came with a name – Trigger – and since it is bad luck to change a horse’s name, we kept it,” said North Country owner and trainer Amanda Vance. “I just gave her a gender. Trigger is the TRF’s property, and basically, we board her here.” Vance uses Trigger for her hunter/jumper, dressage and Western lessons and has even given her a “stall” of her own.
“The TRF brought her out for its BBQ at the Barn last August, which was a lot of fun. We brought her out so that kids could use it, and we challenged adults to stay on using one of our exercise saddles.”
The TRF’s other Equicizer has a much busier daily schedule as part of the TRF’s Second Chances vocational program at the all-women Lowell Correctional Institute in Ocala, FL. Lovato claims that the bulk of his business has shifted from the racing industry and is now concentrated on equine-assisted programs like Second Chances and therapy programs that specialize in aiding people with disabilities. Lowell’s Equicizer came with a nameplate and “Bay Apache’’ has settled right into the job.
“Riding is a privilege here, and no one rides until they have passed all of their [Second Chances] tests – and there’s about 33 of them,’’ said former jockey Dean Purdom, who is approaching his second year as Lowell’s Second Chances Farm Manager. “The women have a textbook, but they learn hands-on about different aspects of taking care of horses. They learn nutrition, how to lead, how to groom, how to pick feet. They also learn to build barns, cut grass and how to handle heavy equipment and other skills just in case they ever need them later when working with horses.”
Purdom, who rode with Lovato at Belmont Park in 1980, likes how Bay Apache can simulate a real horse’s movements.
“Green [inexperienced] riders want to clamp onto a horse,” Purdom said. “At first, I’ll have the women sit there on the Equicizer and just relax. Then, I can start showing them how it works. The head bobs and the body moves, so you can shift your weight. It is just like a horse walking. It is a great tool, and visually, it is invaluable. I can stand in a round pen and tell everybody to do this or do that, but on the Equicizer, I can show them. In fact, they all get kick out of me saying, ’Get off and let me show you!’’
According to Lovato, this particular Equicizer was originally made for Thoroughbred breeder Stacy Leppala in March 1995. It is Equicizer No.196 and a model that includes a spring device underneath the body for added motion.
That Lowell’s Equicizer, now 30 years old, is helping people is a source of pride for Lovato, whose wife, Sandy, was killed in a car accident in 2014 at the age of 54.
“Sandy’s older sister had polio and inspired Sandy to always want to help people,’’ Lovato said. “We were already in business with the Equicizer when I stopped riding. The Equicizer opened doors into other markets. We started meeting people that were involved with therapeutic riding programs and equine-assisted programs for people with disabilities. Sandy started Stampede of Dreams.’’
Stampede of Dreams was a Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) International certified program that provided Equine Assisted horseback riding lessons. Sandy used real horses in her instruction, but also an Equicizer named “Brownie.’’