by Faye Westlake Newman

Created on: June 02, 2009   Last Updated: June 04, 2009

I am a lover of horses. To me, they are among God's most elegant and wonderful creatures. Given a choice, I would take a horse over any animal I've ever seen, as a companion, friend, therapist.

That said, there can be no doubt, to me, that dogs, which I also dearly love, are better guide animals. Dogs are naturally protective, unfailingly loyal and forgiving, and entirely dependable. Horses may be trained to be all of that, and they are loyal to those who love and care for them, but they slip occasionally and balk at something they don't want to do. To dogs, those attributes of loyalty and forgiveness are genetically ingrained. Dogs are known to be loyal even to owners who, intentionally or unwittingly, abuse or neglect them.

The best-trained saddle horse will buck if he has a thorn under his saddle. Mini-horses aren't saddled, but they are equally sensitive to pain and will kick or bite if hurt or frightened. A horse may be trained with relative ease not to spook at a flying object, rustle of paper, or other startling occurrence. If they couldn't, you'd never take one into a parade carrying a flag. However, horses are sometimes eccentric. I rode one who invariably spooked at a decaying old cabin we passed often, as if it housed a ghost. A flag flapping in her face hardly made her blink. Predictability is the key: guide dogs are predictable.

A well-trained dog is calm in the best of circumstances and the worst. A well-trained horse is calm in most situations. Encouraging one to ford a muddy stream can be a challenge. I will never again take my very well-trained horse to a show where there is a carnival in the next field.

There are other considerations than the psychological make-up of prey animals vs. predator animals.

While horses are often accustomed to relieving themselves in one area, their diet consists largely of fiber foods, and they eat great quantities of it. The fiber diet is essential, not just for sustenance, but for survival. Relative to his size, a horse has a very large and convoluted intestine. He is physically incapable of throwing up something that doesn't agree with him, so he needs fiber foods to keep the process moving and prevent colic, which is life-threatening. Of course, since it is kept moving, processed fecal matter is also excreted frequently, and a horse's control over defecation is minimal at best. It would be exceedingly unhealthy for him to hold his excretions.

Dogs are not finicky about food. They eat commercially packaged

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