by Christine G.

Created on: January 17, 2009   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

What has four legs, wears sneakers, and helps guide the blind?

A miniature horse.

The miniature guide horse is the newest trend in service animals for the disabled. The Guide Horse Foundation in Kittrell, North Carolina, founded in 1999, has been providing guide horses free of charge to enthusiastic vision-impaired handlers since the turn of the millennium. This new breed of guide animal never barks, has a range of vision of nearly 350 degrees, and recalls experiences for decades. Its life span is 25-30 years, much longer than a dog's.

A guide horse wears a harness similar to that of a guide dog, and molded sneakers to keep it from sliding on slippery floors. This superbly-trained helper can live indoors if necessary, but the Foundation prefers that their graduates spend off-duty hours outdoors with a companion horse.

Janet Burleson, a retired professional horse trainer with over 30 years' experience, pioneered the training program with her husband Don. After a candidate passes an equine intelligence test, training requires six months to a year of intense individual work, including:

*Lead Training. The horse learns to move at appropriate speed; to negotiate everyday obstacles including elevators, escalators, public transit and stairs, and to lie down on command.

*Recognition of 23 voice commands.

*Avoidance of obstacles.

*Surface Elevation Change Recognition. The horse signals the handler of approaching steps and curbs.

*Housebreaking. Horses can control their bladder for 6 hours, and can be taught to let their handler know when they need to go outside. On long excursions, they wear a plastic-lined poo bag to catch droppings.

*Desensitization to chaotic situations. This is the same type of training as police horses receive.

*Intelligent disobedience. Guide horses are trained to disregard any command that might endanger their handler.

Once the horse has mastered all this, the most difficult task remains: training the handler. Prospective candidates must demonstrate their ability to manage an artificial horse before they are allowed to work with a real one.

If you happen to see a horse with sneakers lying under a table in a restaurant or occupying a seat in an airplane, there's no need to question your sanity or your eyesight. You are looking at the up-and-coming guide animal of the Third Millennium.

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