Leading the Blind: Hoof Meets Paw

A pony in the passenger compartment of the airplane or in the cabin on the cruise ship: Once again, nothing seems to be impossible in the USA. There, not only guide dogs, but also little ponies accompany visually impaired people through their life. However, whether the hoofed animals could really substitute the assistants on paws is much discussed in Germany.

01/12/2010

The little blind girl Marie follows her friend Hugo
on her way to school © Karl Dettmer

Already for thirty years ponies in the USA have been coached to lead blind people. Like guide dogs they bring them across the street, into shops and they can climb stairs. In Germany, training guide horses has only been seen as an experiment up to now. And some instructors have already stopped their experiments because they regard the natural flight instinct as dangerous. However, a pony in Stemwede, a little village in Germany, proves that it can also work.

With fox coloured fur and long mane the Shetland pony Hugo reaches to an adult’s hip. The 11-year-old gelding has a job: He is a blind person's guide. He helps shopping, accompanies his small blind friend Marie to school and is able to go by bus and train.

Six years ago Hugo was lucky, since he was supposed to go to the butcher. Nevertheless, family Dettmer from Stemwede in Germany took a heart and brought him to their home. For over 25 years the family has been training guide dogs. Moreover, Lillemor Hjorter-Dettmer is a riding instructor.

They had the idea to train Hugo as a blind person's guide because before he got there they had already tried to coach a pony with the same aim. “This was a typical miniature horse as they are used in the USA as a companion for blind people. Its owner saw a gap in the market for guide horses in Germany and wanted to make money with the sales. However, the mare was totally unsuitable and too nervous for the work, so I stopped the training. The owner did not want to admit this and brought the animal to another instructor. That also went wrong,“ remembers Hjorter-Dettmer. Not every horse is suitable as a blind person's guide. “It must be cool and willing to work and it should like it. Our Hugo is kind of a mate and takes part with pleasure.“

Some time ago when visiting New York, USA, Lillemor Hjorter-Dettmer met a visually impaired woman with a guide horse. “It lived with its owner on the 17th floor of a skyscraper and looked like a doll, dresses up with shoes and looked tired and unhappy. There I said to myself: This is not the way it should be,“ she remembers. Unfortunately, on the website of the private Guide Horse Foundation which trains the hoofed animals and offers those to prospective customers one can see a picture of two ponies sleeping in a bed. Nevertheless, the same organisation calls for a species-appropriate husbandry what indeed seems to be quite contradictory.

For adults it is easier to handle a guide horse when it is afraid of something © Karl Dettmer

„Somebody who wants to have a guide horse should be a horse lover and understand what a horse needs – because one must keep it species-appropriate. This is nothing for everyone,“ stresses Lillemor Hjorter-Dettmer. Like Hugo who frolics around on the field with the family’s riding horses they should always have the possibility to be a horse, to get fresh air and be with other horses.

The species-appropriate husbandry may also mean a restriction for blind people. In a public writing the blind American Eugenia Firth criticises that horses lowered the independence of the blind people again for which visually impaired people had been fighting so hard. Since with a horse one could only live where it could be out to grass. What should happen when the person had to move for private or professional reasons?

However, a horse has advantages as well, above all its high life expectancy from up to 50 years. The owner does not have to get used to a new companion constantly. Dogs only reach an average age of 14. Moreover, the hoofed animals have a very wide field of view because their eyes are positioned at the sides. The animals are strong and they are able to help people to stand up who are not only visually but also physically impaired. Moreover, for people with a dog hair allergy the pony could show an alternative.

The training of a pony lasts at least one year and with it twice as long as that of a dog. After that it is able to explain almost the same orders like the dog. Big exception: sitting or even lying down. Only in special cases horses are able to do this and it is not easy for them. Opponents of the guide horses criticise that there are no guidelines for their education what could be extremely dangerous. However, Hugo was coached with the same standards like the dogs. And with this Dettmers have enough experience. They have already brought 400 blind people together with dog and horse.

Whether the guide horse could show an alternative to the dog in the foreseeable future, Lillemor Hjorter-Dettmer denies clearly. Above all, this has financial reasons. Though a pony is not necessarily more expensive than a dog – at least concerning acquisition and food – horses just are not officially approved as official auxiliary mean for visually impaired people in Germany right now. And it is not in sight at all. “We have already tried to request it from health insurances, but without legal action it will probably not work," according to the Swede by birth. Therefore, the training of a next Hugo was not worthwhile for them, since their additional work would be unsalaried.

She regards the subject realistically: “A horse will never substitute the dog. And it is only suitable for a very limited audience. However, if I would lose my sight one day I would like to have both of them, dog and horse.”

Natascha Mörs
REHACARE.de