[nagdu] Miniature Guide Horses WAS Cincinnati Family with miniature horse service animal, sues city.

[Tai Blas]

How could a guide horse fly on an airplane? Where would they stand?

Tai Tomasi
J.D. Candidate, class of 2014
Email: tai.tomasi8 at gmail.com
Sent from my iPhone. Please excuse my brevity and any grammatical errors.

> On Feb 22, 2014, at 12:47 AM, "Ann Edie" <annedie at nycap.rr.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi, Daryl and Everyone,
> 
> You asked how or why I switched from using guide dogs to working with a
> miniature horse guide.  Well, my decision to work with a miniature horse
> guide was prompted by many experiences and philosophical factors.
> 
> First of all, perhaps, was my experience with guide dogs.  After working for
> 9 years with my first, wonderful chocolate Labrador guide dog, I experienced
> 2 heart-breaking attempted partnerships with one male and one female German
> shepherd guide.  I decided that, even in the case of the very successful
> guide dog, the working lifespan of dogs is painfully short, and the
> disruption during the period of the decline of the working guide, the loss
> of that relationship, the time of transition to a new dog guide, and the
> period of adjustment and team building with the new dog guide, were just too
> stressful for me physically, emotionally and in terms of time commitment for
> me to want to repeat the process every few years.  And it is even harder if
> you throw in the occasional mismatch or match with a dog who decides he/she
> really isn't prepared to work full time as a guide.
> 
> Second, I am, and have always been, a horse lover.  At the time I got my
> miniature horse, I already owned 3 riding horses and was very involved in
> their care and training.  I knew that horses are intelligent enough to do
> guide work and that many of them have the temperament to do the work.  I
> also knew that horses do look upon the humans with whom they have close
> relationships as members of their bands (families), and do take on the roles
> of companion and guide/protector as needed.  My own Arabian horse, Magnat,
> acted as my guide both when I was riding him and when I was walking with
> him.  I had trained him to stop at changes of footing and elevation and
> before going through doorways or gateways so that I could orient myself and
> make sure the passage was clear.  He was also a wonderful retriever who
> would not only happily pick up grooming tools that regularly flew out of my
> hand while I was vigorously brushing him, but would also tidy up the arena
> by bringing me sundry objects which others had dropped , like whips, hats,
> tissues, and little traffic cones.  And miniature horses have an average
> lifespan of 30-40 years or more, compared with the 10-15 year lifespan of
> dogs, which means you can expect an amazing, long-lasting and continuously
> deepening relationship with one very special animal partner.  Around the
> year 2000 I began hearing reports of the Guide Horse Foundation's training
> of the first miniature horses as guides for blind people, and I was
> intrigued.  I had not known up to that time, that there were horses small
> enough to serve as guides.
> 
> Third, through my interests in dogs and horses and their training (obedience
> for dogs as well as guide work, and dressage riding and general management
> for horses) I had become convinced that I wanted a guide animal trained with
> methods which relied on positive reinforcement rather than what is called
> "correction" in the guide dog world.  By the year 2000, methods which were
> based in behavioral science and which relied on positive reinforcement were
> becoming the norm in training dogs as well as most other species of animals
> for all types of management, performance, and companionship/obedience tasks.
> However, guide dog training programs were largely entrenched in the
> traditional methods which relied on correction both during the dogs'
> training and in the relationship between the dog and handler after
> placement.  I had become accustomed to working with my horses and dogs in
> the more positive way, and I no longer wanted to go back to the
> punishment-based methods of the guide dog programs.
> 
> Fourth, I was fortunate to be working and sharing a barn with Alexandra
> Kurland, who is the foremost advocate of positive training methods,
> specifically, clicker training, in the horse world.  So when I expressed to
> Alex my interest in perhaps working with a miniature horse guide instead of
> a successor guide dog, she responded with a proposal that we acquire and
> train a miniature horse to be my guide, and that we use clicker training
> exclusively both to train and to handle the guide horse, to which I
> enthusiastically agreed.
> 
> So, in the summer of 2001, we started searching the internet for a suitable
> young miniature horse.  We found a good prospect in Florida, flew down to
> meet her, and knew immediately that she would be our little clicker guide.
> Panda came to live with Alex in September, 2001, in the days just after 9-11
> when we were all in a shocked daze, wondering what the world would be like
> in the next months and years.  She definitely proved to be a bright star in
> a time of darkness and doubt.  Panda was just 8 months old when she started
> her training, which was a combination of both basic socialization and guide
> training, and which lasted about 18 months.  She was actually ready to go to
> work full-time earlier, but we didn't want to have her begin her working
> life until she was over two years old.  Panda came to live with me and
> became my full-time guide in the summer of 2003, and she has been the most
> wonderful, consistent, confident, and intelligent guide that anyone could
> hope for.  She just celebrated her 13th birthday, and we have been working
> together for ten and a half years, with the prospect of decades of happy
> partnership ahead of us.
> 
> In answer to your question about how guide horses work--
> They do all of the same guide tasks as guide dogs do, although sometimes
> they do it a bit differently than the dogs.  For example, instead of going
> under a table or chair in a restaurant or on the bus, the guide horse stands
> beside my chair or between the bus seats.  The horses don't sit as dogs do,
> but they either stand or lie down instead.  They do all the usual guide
> tasks such as stopping at curbs and stairs, going around obstacles, changing
> speed for uneven footing or for ice, mud, water, etc., looking out for
> overhead obstacles, turning left and right on cue, monitoring moving
> vehicles at driveways and street crossings and exercising intelligent
> disobedience when necessary, and finding specific places in the environment,
> such as doors to go inside or outside, elevators, stairs, checkout counters,
> pedestrian signal buttons, home, etc.  And yes, they are housetrained and
> relieve on leash and on cue, just as the dogs do.
> 
> The organization I mentioned earlier, the Guide Horse Foundation, trained
> the first working guide horse team, Dan Shaw and Cuddles, in the spring of
> 2001.  That organization trained a few more teams in the next couple of
> years.  But as far as I can tell, they haven't been active in recent years.
> All of the active teams that I am aware of, except for Dan Shaw and Cuddles,
> have miniature horses which were privately trained or owner trained.
> 
> I hope that answers some of your questions.
> 
> Best,
> Ann
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Daryl Marie
> Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 12:47 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: [nagdu] Miniature Guide Horses WAS Cincinnati Family with miniature
> horse service animal, sues city.
> 
> Hi, Ann,
> 
> May I ask what prompted the change from guide dogs to guide horse?  Who
> trains a guide horse?  Does it guide similar to a dog?  I am very curious!
> 
> Daryl
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ann Edie <annedie at nycap.rr.com>
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:34:56 -0700 (MST)
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Cincinnati Family with miniature horse service animal,
> sues city.
> 
> Hi, 
> 
> FYI, I use the same size plastic bags for picking up after my miniature
> horse guide as I did for picking up after my dog guides.
> 
> Also, I keep my miniature horse guide at my property, a privately-owned
> house in the suburbs with a lot not too much bigger than the one mentioned
> in the article.  The town officials in my town as well as the animal control
> officer and the code enforcement people are all aware of the presence of my
> miniature horse guide, and none has given me a hassle about it.  My area is
> zoned residential and does not permit what they call livestock.  (I know
> this because the neighbors and town officials certainly did react quickly
> when my daughter attempted to keep 4 baby chickens she rescued from her 8th
> grade biology class in a pen in our backyard.  That requires a zoning
> variance and the agreement of the neighbors.)
> 
> Anyway, I'm not here to support the keeping of any or all of the other
> animals, but my miniature horse at least is considerably quieter than the
> dogs that live on either side of my property, both of which bark incessantly
> at anyone who moves in their vicinity.  And as for smell, I pick up after my
> horse 4-6 times a day and there is never a pile left in the yard, whereas
> the neighbors' dogs are allowed to leave piles in their yards for many days
> before the waste is picked up, if ever.  And--this may be a matter of
> opinion--but horse manure is nowhere near as bad smelling or objectionable
> to pick up as is dog droppings.
> 
> My miniature horse is a trained service animal and I have the same right to
> keep her in my home and to be accompanied by her in all places of public
> accommodation as I would if she were a dog guide.  I believe the family in
> this article may not be claiming that the horse is a trained service animal
> for use in public, but rather as a medically prescribed support animal which
> can be kept in the home under the Fair Housing Act.  I have only seen this
> law used in the case of public housing or rental properties, so don't know
> if that law applies to privately owned homes and to town zoning codes.  But
> I have heard of a couple of court cases where the lawyers brought into court
> a miniature horse and a large, rambunctious mastiff or great Dane for the
> court to compare as to which might be more noisy, smelly, and disruptive to
> neighborhood tranquility.  Which do you think would come out on top?
> 
> Best,
> Ann
> 
> 
> 
> 
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