SMART joins forces with a similar nonprofit

Ilee Finocchiaro had to wait for her children to grow up before she was free to pursue her path as a volunteer for Sarasota Manatee Association for Riding Therapy east of Lakewood Ranch. And now Finocchiaro is a believer in the old saying that “horses are mirrors to your soul.”

Danielle Curtis, meanwhile, was an equestrian growing up, but the competitive nature of the field left her with a bitter taste. It wasn’t until her daughter turned to horses for stress relief that she was able to rekindle her passion for the animals she loves so much. That led her to co-found Hooves with H.E.A.R.T (Horse Education and Riding Therapy).

Finocchiaro and Curtis, with a love for horses at the forefront, are now connected in another way: last September, Finocchiaro and Curtis worked together to merge SMART and Hooves with Heart, the two equestrian-based nonprofits, capping a tumultuous time for the former organization on its third iteration of leadership in five years. Two hurricanes and a holiday season later, the women at the helm of the organization, now called SMART with Heart, are working together to chart a new course. 

The organization’s mission is to provide special needs members of the community with therapeutic equine rides and encounters. Finocchiaro is SMART with Heart’s new executive director; Curtis is vice president of the board. The nonprofit carries out its mission on a 23-acre facility on County Road 675, just south of Lake Manatee State Park and State Road 64. 

Finocchiaro joined SMART as a volunteer in 2014 and stepped away to join Hooves for a year. In 2023 she met Curtis. That’s when the pair started to hatch a merger plan. 

“I had the opportunity to come back here as the [executive director], and Danielle and I had a great conversation about being able to merge together to create a stronger force to be able to serve the community together,” Finocchiaro says. 

Part of the plan involved building back the core tenets of the organization they felt were lost: reinstating the exclusive focus of therapeutic programs, rebuilding its volunteer base (the organization is 100% volunteer run, including Finocchiaro, who commutes an hour and 20 minutes from Punta Gorda), refilling the financial coffers and re-establishing a strong presence in the community. 

So far, the trajectory is headed in the right direction.

“While our individual mission is to service our individual riders, we’ve also expanded to doing these programs that help with PTSD, anxiety, grief …we’re just opening the door,” Curtis says. 

Ride high 

Finocchiaro says “horses hold tension right in their bodies, just like we do,” referring to some of the programs aimed at helping veterans. 

“They don’t want to show their fear. They don’t want to show their weakness, right? So neither do our veterans. They’ve been trained that they can’t show weaknesses. So when they have that opportunity to connect with the horse, and that horse trusts them and releases that tension, it kind of lets the veteran know it’s OK for them to release their tension as well.” 

Photo by Dex Honea

Curtis echoes, “It was special, another powerful thing to see that these animals are able to bring individuals who are going through such hard, hard things in life, but these loving creatures are just helping them feel and know what’s OK and comfortable for them to portray in life.” 

None of the programs is possible without the appropriate crew helping out. Currently there are 45 active volunteers, “But we could always use more,” Curtis says. 

Keep it going

The equines consist of a team of five working horses and five mini ponies serving approximately 40 riders a week. The duo notes 70-80% of donor funds go to their care and to programming. The hope is to add two or three more horses to the fold, so others are able to take a break. 

In the months since the merger was final, fundraising through grant support has brought in $150,000. Although the organization declines to assign dollar amounts, it credits Bishop Animal Shelter SPCA and the Lakewood Ranch Community Foundation. “We both cried like babies, I’ll be honest,” Curtis says, upon learning of the donations. (No public data on the new organization’s finances is available yet.)

SMART with Heart leadership, beyond fundraising, is continuing to make strides in the moment with its eye on the legacy of the new brand. 

“Seeing this love and this desire to make people feel more connected to each other and to being better people in society and knowing how to function in society, I think that that’s our goal,” Curtis says. “It’s just to be able to [look] 10 years down the road, I’d love to look back and see that maybe I’m not a part of this, but whoever is is carrying on the mission and the love that we have, not only for the children, for the animals, and for our community.”