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

[Doug Parisian]

Well, first of all, not everybody flies though I suspect that the 
miniature guide horse would at minimum be allowed the same 
considerations as would be the case for any guide dog.
On 22/02/2014 6:03 PM, Tai Blas wrote:
> 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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