Guide horse

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about miniature horses used as service animals to assist people with sight disabilities. For therapy animals, see
therapy animal. For equine therapy animials, see equine-assisted therapy
.
A miniature horse working as a service animal.

A guide horse is an alternative mobility option for blind people who do not wish to or cannot use a guide dog.[1]

History

The idea of a guide horse for a blind person dates back to 1943 if not earlier, the film

miniature horses to be seeing eye horses.[3]

Their first trainee was Twinkie. From that start, the Burlesons developed a rigorous training program for miniature horses that was similar to a guide dog's, adding systematic desensitization training, similar to that given horses used for riot control. There were setbacks; the first time they took a miniature horse to the grocery store, it grabbed a Snickers bar off the shelf. The goal was to train these small horses to meet all requirements to become a guide animal for the blind.[3]

One of the first people to use a guide horse was Dan Shaw.[4] At age 17, he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, an incurable eye disease that deteriorates vision over time. In 1998 he attended a school for the blind to learn basic skills, such as how to read Braille. However, he stated, "... I was shocked at how few options I had. I didn't want to struggle with a white cane, and I couldn't bear the idea of having a guide dog because of the grief I had experienced when my beloved pet dog died 10 years before. I knew I'd feel the loss of an animal I had relied on for my independence even more acutely."[4]

In 1999 the Burlesons created The Guide Horse Foundation[a] to provide miniature horses as assistance animals to blind users living in rural environments.

Shaw heard about the Burlesons' experimental program, and was particularly interested when he found out that horses live thirty to forty years. So he applied to be the first person in the world to use a guide horse. The Burlesons started training "Cuddles" for Shaw. On March 6, 2002, he flew to

Dorothy Eustis began training German Shepherds to lead the blind, many people scoffed at the idea. But I knew that getting my independence back would outweigh any criticism."[4]

Another user received her horse "Panda" in 2003, and in 2007 the Associated Press reported the owner describing her guide as "protective, alert and house-trained -- and she loves to play fetch. And at 29 inches tall and 120 pounds, she's a darn small horse."[6]

United Kingdom

A guide horse, "Digby", claimed to be Britain's first, was introduced to a BBC journalist for training in February 2018. Unfortunately the

Underground to work.[7]

Guide horse as service animal

Official recognition

In the United States, on 15 September 2010, the

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and ruled that properly trained and suitably sized miniature Guide Horses could be recognized as service animals.[8]

Features

Miniature horses, with an average lifespan of thirty years, live much longer than dogs, and for those allergic to or frightened of dogs, a horse could make a good alternative. However, while a dog can adapt to many different home situations, a horse must live outdoors, requiring a shelter and room to move about when not on duty.[9]

Guide horse users may also find difficulty in transporting a miniature horse on limited-spaced public transportation, such as on buses or taxis. Some individuals also are concerned that a horse's powerful

fight-or-flight instinct may lead it to have less predictable behavior than that of a guide dog
.

The Guide Horse Foundation suggest a house-trained guide horse should typically be able to control its bladder for six hours; however for transportation purposes it is suggested a practical estimate of four hours should be used.[10]

Training

The process of training a guide horse is rigorous and takes about eight months for each horse.[3] The Burlesons developed a training programme which began initially with the horse trained in basic lead work, in which the horse is taught to move at the speed that the handler commands and to navigate common obstacles. Next, the horse is trained in voice command recognition, and taught to respond to 23 voice commands. The horse is then taught to maneuver around both stationary and moving obstacles. After this, the horse is trained to signal to the handler when there is a step or ramp. Finally, the horse is housebroken, generally an easy process because of horses' natural aversion to depositing fecal waste indoors. Intelligent disobedience is a crucial part of the training of the guide horse, as the horse must be able to disregard any commands that would be unsafe to the horse and the handler.[11]

Suitability

References

Notes

  1. ^ By November 2010 The Guide Horse Foundation suspended applications from prospective clients.[5]

Footnotes

  1. ^ TGHF 2019.
  2. ^ TGHF 2014a.
  3. ^ a b c d Peterson 2003.
  4. ^ a b c Shaw 2002.
  5. ^ TGHF 2010.
  6. ^ The Associated Press 2007.
  7. ^ Diver 2018.
  8. ^ Fox Rothschild LLP (2020).
  9. ^ TGHF 2018.
  10. ^ TGHF 2014b.
  11. ^ TGHF 2013.
  12. ^ Blocksdorf 2017.
  13. ^ Burke 2016.
  14. ^ a b c TGHF 2017.
  15. ^ Kahle 2012.

Sources

  • Seattle Times. Archived from the original
    on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
  • Blocksdorf, Katherine (15 March 2017). "Ever Wonder How Long Horses Live?". The Spruce. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  • Burke, Anna (14 July 2016). "How Long Do Dogs Live?". American Kennel Club. American Kennel Club. Archived from the original on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  • Diver, Tony (16 November 2018). "Guide horse sacked for being too big will soon ride the Underground with new master". Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020.
  • Fox Rothschild LLP (13 February 2020). "A Brief History of Miniature Horses and the ADA". animallaw.foxrothschild.com. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  • Kahle, Lisa (12 July 2012). "Therapy Horses for the Deaf". www.lifeprint.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  • Peterson, Linda (September 2003). "A Little Horse Sense: One Family's Innovative Approach to Helping the Blind". Biography Magazine. pp. 72–75. Archived from the original on 3 October 2003 – via The Guide Horse Foundation.
  • Shaw, Dan. (11 November 2002). "My Turn: Yes, That's Right, It's A Seeing-Eye Horse". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 17 November 2002 – via The Guide Horse Foundation.
  • TGHF (23 November 2010). "Guide Horse Application Procedure". The Guide Horse Foundation. Archived from the original on 23 November 2010. Please note that the Guide Horse Foundation is new, and we consider our program to be experimental. Due to the overwhelming number of requests for free Guide horses we have temporarily suspended the application process.
  • TGHF (2013). "Guide Horse Training". Guide Horse Foundation. Archived from the original on 10 June 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  • TGHF (2014a). "Guide Horses in Movies". Guide Horse Foundation. Archived from the original on 8 February 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  • TGHF (2014b). "Airline requires potty pads for guide animals". Guide Horse Foundation. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  • TGHF (2017). "Miniature Horse Facts". www.guidehorse.com. Guide Horse Foundation Inc. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  • TGHF (2018). "Horses in your house". www.guidehorse.com. Archived from the original on 16 March 2018.
  • TGHF (2019). "The Guide Horse Program". The Guide Horse Foundation. Archived from the original (Web) on 2019-01-05.

Further reading

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