[nagdu] Minature Horse Article

Lyn Gwizdak linda.gwizdak at cox.net
Tue Apr 24 20:44:12 UTC 2012


Hi Julie and everyone,
Below, I pasted the Woman's Day article about my friend, Renata diPietro and 
her mini horse, Angel who she is training to be a guide.  The article is 
from the current May 2012 issue of Woman's Day magazine.

Yes, I know Renata has been in contact with you, Julie.  renata and I have 
been good friends sinse 1991 when she lived here in San Diego.

In the article is a photo I will describe for the folks who can't see it. 
Angel is a beautiful all-white mini horse and she is wearing a royal blue 
halter.  Renata, with hair almost as white as Angel's, is hugging the horse. 
The photo is a tight head shot of the two of them.

What was interesting is that the article's author is named Melody.  Renata 
has a young white German shepherd named Melody!

Hope your screen readers can read the article.

Enjoy,

Lyn and Landon

Small Wonder



Instead of choosing a guide dog, a blind woman puts her trust in a 
surprising choice - and it has transformed her life.   // BY MELODY WARNICK 
//





    When Renata di Pietro walks into a store near her home in Cleveland, GA, 
jaws drop, cameras click and strangers want to talk. "It's like the 
paparazzi are after me," she says, laughing.

The classically trained singer, who is legally blind, is used to an 
audience, but these days the main attraction is her miniature guide horse, 
Angel. Just 28 inches tall - not much bigger than a Great Dane - Angel has 
been trained, like a Seeing Eye dog, to help Renata navigate her way around 
town.

For years, Renata relied on guide dogs, but ultimately, she found it 
heartbreaking: A dog's working life is short - just six to 10 years before 
it either ages out of service or dies. "It's very painful, because you love 
each one with all your heart," says Renata. The time it took to adjust to a 
new dog took a toll, too.

In 2007, on the hunt for another dog, Renata thought about a friend who had 
a mini horse as her guide. They're rare: Experts estimate that there are 
just a dozen or so of them at work in the United States. Renata knew from 
her friend that mini horses are calm, strong and typically live for 30 years 
or more. The first horse she tried proved difficult to work with. Then 
Renata paid a breeder $3,000 for Angel (many mini horses are available for 
$1,000 or less), and hired trainers she found through word of mouth to help 
ready the horse for service. She also paid $350 for a special harness, but 
the rest of Angel's upkeep is pretty manageable: $20 a month for hay and 
feed, $20 every six to eight weeks for hoof trimming, and vet bills 
comparable to those for dogs.

That's not to say there aren't challenges to working with a guide horse. 
"With a dog you give a leash correction and say, 'No.' But that type of 
correction makes a horse fearful and unwilling to work," says Renata, who 
had to learn new techniques from the pros. And while she and her husband, 
Carl, already had 1 3/4 acres of fenced property, complete with an unused 
stable where Angel lives, they quickly learned that constantly mucking it 
out is hard work. Then there was the poop problem when Angel was indoors. 
"For months before Angel was housebroken, my nickname was Scooper Man," says 
Carl.

The one challenge Renata anticipated - her guide horse being denied access - 
has not come up. (Thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act, guide 
horses are generally legally allowed to go anywhere guide dogs can.) "The 
first day I took my horse to a store, a police officer ran up to me. I 
thought, Prepare yourself, Renata. But he just said, 'Can I take a 
picture?'"

In the three years together, Renata has come to rely on Angel for much more 
than sight. "She's my own personal war horse. We're fighting a battle for my 
independence."



MELODY WARNICK is a writer in Austin, Texas.





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Julie J." <julielj at neb.rr.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 5:05 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Minature Horse Article


> Lyn,
>
> Is the Woman's Day article  available on the internet anywhere?  I'd love 
> to read it.  I know your friend in the article and admire her a lot.  I 
> hope the article does her justice.
>
> Julie
>
>
>
>
> On 4/23/2012 7:28 PM, Lyn Gwizdak wrote:
>> Hi Rebecca,
>> I would imagine there was similar things said about dogs back in the 
>> early days of guide dogs that we see today about the guide horses.
>>
>> Back in Morris Frank's time (1920s) people didn't bring dogs around with 
>> them like people do today.  Our society is much more dog-friendly now 
>> than it was then.  The society wasn't even disable-friendly as it is 
>> today.  Back in Morris's time, blind people didn't get out and around 
>> like now because they didn't even have the long white cane to enable 
>> folks to travel independently.
>>
>> I think one of the problems that guide horses will have over guide dogs 
>> is that dogs do live indoors - our homes -  and horses do not.  Horses 
>> are considered barn animals.  But, like guide dogs in Morris Frank's 
>> time, guide horses will gain acceptance as people get familiar with them.
>>
>> If anyone reads Woman's Day Magazine, the current issue - May 2012 - 
>> there is an article about a good friend of mine who is training her 
>> miniature horse, Angel, to be a guide.  My friend is in contact with 
>> several guide horse users.  Read it if you can.
>>
>> Like guide dogs, I think the horses will have to prove themselves.
>>
>> Lyn and Landon
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)" 
>> <REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com>
>> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 8:34 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Minature Horse Article
>>
>>
>>>        Anybody know if the critisism raised about guide horses was also 
>>> raised about guide dogs back in the day? I.E. Dogs live outside, they 
>>> aren't house-broken, that sort of thing.
>>> I don't recall seeing critisism of that flavor in my reading of the 
>>> Seeing Eye.
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>>> Behalf Of Steven Johnson
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2012 8:26 PM
>>> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'; 
>>> wagdu at nfbwis.org
>>> Subject: [nagdu] Minature Horse Article
>>>
>>> A horse is a horse, of course.
>>>
>>> That's why business owners are getting nervous about a new federal
>>> regulation requiring a particular breed of horse to be allowed into 
>>> shops
>>> and restaurants across the country.
>>>
>>> The Justice Department regulations were tailored for so-called "service"
>>> horses -- miniature horses that, like service dogs, accompany the blind 
>>> and
>>> others with disabilities to help them get around.
>>>
>>> But the rules were a lawsuit waiting to happen, according to critics. 
>>> And
>>> sure enough, a suit was filed earlier this month in Los Angeles, by a 
>>> man
>>> who uses a wheelchair and keeps a miniature horse named Princess -- 
>>> and who
>>> claims a local GameStop and Marshalls refused him and his horse service.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Related Slideshow
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Miniature horses -- pet, livestock or service animal?
>>>
>>>
>>> Heard of seeing-eye dogs? There's an alternative. Miniature horses, 
>>> while
>>> commonly kept on farms, can also be used as "service" animals -- to help 
>>> the
>>> blind and disabled get around. A federal rule requiring businesses to 
>>> let
>>> them inside has stirred concern of lawsuits. The dispute doesn't 
>>> distract
>>> from their cuteness, though.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The case, as well as the regulation, has drawn concern from at least one
>>> lawmaker on Capitol Hill, as well as the National Restaurant 
>>> Association.
>>>
>>> "I like horses. My daughter likes horses. But even in the Wild West, 
>>> they
>>> put them outside," said Angelo Amador, vice president of the restaurant
>>> association.
>>>
>>> The organization has a few gripes. First, many business owners just 
>>> don't
>>> know about the rule, and are only familiar with dogs being a traditional
>>> service animal. Amador said those that do know have concerns the animals
>>> aren't housebroken.
>>>
>>> "You cannot train a horse ... housebreak them like you would do with a 
>>> dog,"
>>> he said.
>>>
>>> The owner could claim the horse is housebroken, but if that turns out 
>>> not to
>>> be the case then the business has a sanitation problem on its hands --
>>> rather, its floor.
>>>
>>> "After the deed is done, you have a number of other issues in the
>>> restaurant," Amador said. "It's kind of like damned if you do, and 
>>> damned if
>>> you don't."
>>>
>>> Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, cast the rule as a case of Washington 
>>> overreach
>>> -- hardly one to resist a pun, he accused the Justice Department of 
>>> "making
>>> more hay" for trial attorneys.
>>>
>>> "Do we really need to saddle businesses with more regulation? I say,
>>> 'Naaayyy.' Every scenario in life does not need a rule or regulation," 
>>> he
>>> said in a statement to FoxNews.com.
>>>
>>> The regulations on service animals were first put out in September 2010, 
>>> as
>>> part of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
>>>
>>> The rules, which went into effect later, actually narrowed down what 
>>> used to
>>> be a broad definition for service animals. For most purposes, the 
>>> Justice
>>> Department decided to recognize only dogs -- but the department added an
>>> exception for miniature horses after being "persuaded" regarding their
>>> benefits to the disabled.
>>>
>>> The guidelines noted that the horses can be "viable alternatives" for 
>>> people
>>> who are allergic to dogs or whose religious beliefs do not allow them to 
>>> be
>>> around dogs.
>>>
>>> "Another consideration mentioned in favor of the use of miniature horses 
>>> is
>>> the longer life span," the guidelines said. They can provide "service" 
>>> to
>>> the disabled for more than 25 years, as opposed to roughly seven working
>>> years for the typical dog. Plus the horses, despite their petite size, 
>>> can
>>> be stronger.
>>>
>>> That was the case for Jose Estrada, the plaintiff in the case filed this
>>> month in Los Angeles court.
>>>
>>> His attorney, Morse Mehrban, told FoxNews.com that a dog "doesn't have 
>>> the
>>> sufficient strength to pull him in his wheelchair."
>>>
>>> So Estrada, a paraplegic, uses a 29-inch-high miniature horse named
>>> Princess. According to the complaint, the two retail stores being sued
>>> "refused to permit said animal" inside along with Estrada last month. 
>>> The
>>> suit says Princess "is housebroken" and would not "compromise" the 
>>> safety of
>>> those two stores.
>>>
>>> "Apparently, they don't understand that a miniature horse can be a 
>>> service
>>> animal," Mehrban said.
>>>
>>> Estrada is suing for "no less than" $4,000 in damages.
>>>
>>> The federal rules state that businesses should allow in the horses as 
>>> long
>>> as they're trained, considering such factors as the size of the horse,
>>> whether it's under control, whether it's "housebroken," and whether its
>>> presence would compromise "legitimate safety requirements."
>>>
>>> Amador says the horses cannot be housebroken.
>>>
>>> The Guide Horse Foundation, though, says on its website that the horses
>>> "learn exactly the same behaviors as a guide dog," and that they "never 
>>> bite
>>> or kick except when attacked."
>>>
>>> The organization could not be reached for comment.
>>>
>>> The use of miniature horses as service animals, though, has created a 
>>> bit of
>>> a rift in the miniature horse community.
>>>
>>> The American Miniature Horse Association does not condone the use of
>>> miniature horses for that purpose. Association President Harry Elder
>>> applauded those who have received "ADA certification" to train animals 
>>> but
>>> questioned the use of miniature horses.
>>>
>>> "Although the American Miniature Horse is bred to be intelligent, 
>>> curious,
>>> gentle, sensible, willing to cooperate and easy to train, it remains in 
>>> all
>>> respects physically and instinctively a true horse. The American 
>>> Miniature
>>> Horse can be readily trained to be lead or driven but, in most cases, it
>>> would not make a suitable replacement for an animal such as a guide 
>>> dog," he
>>> said in a statement.
>>>
>>> According to the group, there are 200,000 miniature horses registered 
>>> with
>>> the organization around the world, though it's unclear how many are used 
>>> as
>>> service animals in the U.S.
>>>
>>> Other retail groups are taking the Justice Department rule in stride and 
>>> say
>>> they're trying to follow it. Mallory Duncan, senior vice president with 
>>> the
>>> National Retail Federation, said the group is continuing to hold talks 
>>> on
>>> "how best to comply."
>>>
>>> "Retailers are sensitive to the many challenges confronting our 
>>> customers
>>> and work to reasonably accommodate all shoppers when and where 
>>> appropriate,"
>>> Duncan said. "Retailers must remain cognizant of the unique challenges
>>> service animals present in the retail setting in order to best protect 
>>> and
>>> serve the general public."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nagdu mailing list
>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>>> nagdu:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/rebecca.pickrell%40tasc.com
>>> CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This message and any attachments or files 
>>> transmitted with it (collectively, the "Message") are intended only for 
>>> the addressee and may contain information that is privileged, 
>>> proprietary and/or prohibited from disclosure by law or contract. If you 
>>> are not the intended recipient: (a) please do not read, copy or 
>>> retransmit the Message; (b) permanently delete and/or destroy all 
>>> electronic and hard copies of the Message; (c) notify us by return 
>>> email; and (d) you are hereby notified that any dissemination, 
>>> distribution or copying of the Message is strictly prohibited.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nagdu mailing list
>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>>> nagdu:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/linda.gwizdak%40cox.net
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> nagdu:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/julielj%40neb.rr.com
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/linda.gwizdak%40cox.net 





More information about the NAGDU mailing list