Guide horse

A man with a guide horse in an airport.

A guide horse is an experimental mobility option for blind people who do not wish to or cannot use a guide dog. They are provided by The Guide Horse Foundation, founded in 1999 to provide miniature horses as assistance animals to blind users living in rural environments.

There are several perceived advantages to using a horse rather than a dog. 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. Also, though they can be trained to relieve themselves on command, the period of time a horse can actually wait is significantly shorter than a dog's. 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 dog.

How It Started It all started in 1998 on a business trip to New York. On a horseback ride Janet and Don Burleson noticed how the horses were able to sense on their own when to cross the street. Once they got back, they started on their idea of training miniature horses to be Seeing Eye horses. “Janet also remembered, as a young girl, once watching a blind rider compete in horses show “the women gave the horse directions, and it took her around the obstacles and the other horses in the class,” she recalls. “It was serving as her guide and that was something I’d never forgotten” Piecing this all together Janet started wondering: could a miniature horse be trained as a guide animal for the blind?”(Peterson 72) The Burleson’s ponies go through a rigorous training program exactly like a guide dog’s. “As a trainer of Arabian show horses for 30 years, Janet was no stranger to equine behavior. But the urban experience got her thinking—especially about one of their pet miniature horses on their farm in Kittrell, North Carolina. Affectionate and companionable, two-foot-tall “Twinkie” often followed the Burlesons around like a dog, and even rode happily in the back of their minivan.” (Peterson 72) They also undergo the same systematic desensitization training that is given to riot-control horses. These little animals have to meet all requirements to become a trusted guide for the blind. It takes around eight months to train one and isn’t always easy. Don tells of the first time they took one to the grocery store. It grabbed a Snicker bar off the shelf. After a long process of training they tried out their first guide horse “Twinkie”. After the maiden voyage they started getting calls from blind people who wanted to apply for guide horses.

Dan Shaw: The First to Use A Guide Horse Throughout his life Dan Shaw he has never had any luck. When he was seventeen he went on a routine doctors visit , where he found out he had retinitis pigmentosa, which is an incurable eye disease that deteriorates your sight over time. They said he would be bling by the time he reached middle age. So until then he would have to watch his sight slowly fad away. In 1998 he decided to a school for the blind to learn some basic skills, such as how to cook and read Braille. With the walls closing in he wanted to still have contact with the world “But 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.” (Shaw). That’s when he heard about Janet and Don Burlesons experimental program. They were training miniature horses to be guide horses. Dan was 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. And the adventure began. The Burlesons started training “Cuddles” a tiny little angle in Shaws eyes. Shaw kept in touch with the Burlesons during Cuddles' training period. On March 6 2002, the Shaws flew to Raleigh, where they met Cuddles for the first time. They walked together, with Cuddles leading and Shaw and Janet Burleson holding her harness. She let go and sent Shaw and Cuddles into a crowded store, where the aisles were jammed with merchandise. She followed behind. She watched them as they worked as a team. It was them she knew that they were ready. “I was about to become the world’s first user of a guide horse. I knew that there would be skeptics—people who didn’t believe horses had the right temperament to be service animals. After all, in the 1920s, when 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.” (Shaw)

Training a Guide Horse The process of training a guide horse is very detailed. First they start with basic lead training. They teach the horses to move at the speed that the handler commands. They learn to move around everyday obstacles. The next step in voice command recognition, where the horse in trained to respond to23 voice commands. The next step is where they teach the guide horse to move around both stationary and moving obstacles. Then they teach the horses to be able to signal to the handler that there is a step or ramp. The next step is housebreaking. This step is virtually easy because the horses already don’t want to go in the house. The next step is probably the most important step. The intelligent disobedience. The horse is trained to be able to disregard any commands that the horse knows would be unsafe to be horse and the handler Why miniature horses make good guides Well for one thing horses normally live to be 25 - 35 years old, and horse ages translate into human ages almost linearly, but with major differences in age equivalents as babies where mature at a rate far faster than humans, reaching pony puberty by age two. And then on-average, miniature horses may live one-third longer than large horses. This size-longevity relationship is the same for dog breeds. For example, a Rottweiler may live to be 12, while a Chihuahua may live to be 18 years old. The size of the miniature horses really help also. The miniature horses chosen for Guide Horse training weigh approximately 55-100 pounds. their sight is very important, because they are the blind people’s eyes. Miniature horses possess amazing vision. With their eyes mounted squarely on the sides of their heads, they possess nearly 350 degree vision. The miniature horses are also extremely sensitive to motion in their field of vision and often detect a potential hazard before their sighted trainers. Guide Horses also have excellent night vision and can see clearly in almost total darkness.

References

Peterson, Linda. "A Little Horse Sense: One Family's Innovative Approach to Helping the Blind." Biography Magizine September 2003: 72-75. Web.

Shaw, Dan. "My Turn: Yes, That's Right, It's A Seeing-Eye Horse." Newsweek 11 September 2002. Web.

Burleson, Janet. "Guide Horse Training." 1998-2005. Guide Horse Foundation. Web.

External links

• The Guide Horse Foundation
• "The Guide Horse Foundation: Joke or Jeopardy?"
• The Guide Horse NO web site
• Helping Hooves

In the news

• The Associated Press (January 29, 2007). "Miniature horse a big help to woman needing a guide". on "Panda and Edie, 58, a special-education teacher in Bethlehem, N.Y. Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-01-29. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)