Meet the Team!

Frankie Lovato

Creator and Builder / President of Wooden Horse Corporation

Frankie was originally born in Cheverly, Maryland. His father was a successful jockey and Frankie followed suit, beginning his professional riding career at age 16 and earning the Eclipse Award for Apprentice Jockey in 1980. After an accident left him with a badly fractured left leg in 1981, he created the Equicizer, as a means to rehabilitate. Frankie’s 25 year career was based primarily on the prestigious New York circuit but took him all over the country and into Canada. Upon retiring in 2004, Lovato and his family moved to his wife’s hometown in Norwalk, Ohio, where he builds Equicizers out of his shop. Frankie was married for 32 years to his best friend and partner, Sandy Sweet-Lovato, who tragically passed away in a car accident in 2014. They have 3 children; Megan Hodgkiss, Shawn Lovato and Tim Lovato, as well as 3 grandchildren – Allison, Sadie and Jake - who light up his life. Through the Equicizer, which has continued to grow and saw the expansion of Lovato’s shop in 2015, Frankie finds the purpose and hope that continues to push him on.

 

Kayla Jarvinen

Office Manager

Kayla was born in Flint, Michigan and grew up loving horses, despite having little prior experience with them. She has worked for Wooden Horse Corporation since 2014 - aside from a brief hiatus when she pursued an internship on a Thoroughbred rehab farm in Versailles, Kentucky throughout the summer/fall of 2015 - where upon her return, she assumed the role of Office Manager at Wooden Horse Corporation, helping to run daily operations and assisting in special events. She is also the Assistant Director of Jockey World, Inc., an organization focused on educating people about horse racing, where she helped create the “365 Days of Racing Terminology” video series in 2013 with organization founder, Frankie Lovato. The love of her life is her OTTB, Intrinsic Worth “Shorty”. She knows firsthand the benefits the Equicizer provides and is excited about the direction the business continues to head in!

 

Amanda Chicotel

Director of Social Media

Amanda is Huron native and graduate of the University of Toledo. Professionally, she shares her time between the Cleveland Clinic (as an administrative assistant) and Wooden Horse Corporation. Amanda's love for horses started at a young age. She has owned her current mount, a 19 year old off-the-track Thoroughbred, since the age of 15. Amanda became a part of the Equicizer team in all of 2015 and helps out with all things social media and digital promotions. She loves being a part of such a passionate and fun work environment centered around an amazing product.

 

Megan Hodgkiss

Finance Manager/Bookkeeper

Megan is the daughter of Equicizer inventor, Frank Lovato. As a married mother of two (soon to be three), she is also a Registered Nurse. Megan was raised on Long Island, NY as a race track kid. She spent much of her summers in Saratoga Springs admiring her dad’s career as a jockey. When Frankie retired, the Lovato family moved to Ohio to be with Sandy Lovato’s (Frankie’s late wife) family in her hometown of Norwalk, Ohio. Since Sandy’s tragic passing, Megan has taken over the responsibilities as finance manager/bookkeeper for Wooden Horse Corporation. Her daughter Allison shares the love for horses that the Lovato family has traditionally passed down generation to generation. She has taken her pony “Popcorn” to county fair and has won several ribbons. Megan’s whole family truly believes in the Equicizer and are proud to be a part of such a wonderful development for all kinds of horsemen and women.