Originally Posted by
rickair7777
You have to wonder how horses even got approved as service animals in the first place... some congress critter on the committee must have been from KY.
A service animal is supposed to be a SERVICE animal, not your personal fashion statement. How about we stick with dogs. Allergic? Get a standard poddle.
Miniature horses live 25 to 35 years versus a dog living 8 to 12 years. Training takes about 2 years for each, so a dog's working life is 6-10 years while the horse's is 23-33 years. It takes about 3 1/2 dogs to replace one horse, so effectively training expenses are less than a third for a horse than a dog. Then there is the emotional affects of the death of three comrades which the human both cares for and depends on.
They are said to be both calm and smart.
As guides for the blind, they offer greater safety for the human due to a range of vision that approaches 360 degrees. Unlike dogs, horses can see colors though not as vividly as humans.
Contrary to the OP's comment about miniature horses being 250 lbs, they weigh 70 to 100 lbs or only about 5-10 lbs more than an adult male German Shepard. How concerned would y'all be if a male German Shepard was onboard?
From ADA.gov:
In addition to the provisions about service dogs, the Department’s revised ADA regulations have a new, separate provision about miniature horses that have been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. (Miniature horses generally range in height from 24 inches to 34 inches measured to the shoulders and generally weigh between 70 and 100 pounds.) Entities covered by the ADA must modify their policies to permit miniature horses where reasonable. The regulations set out four assessment factors to assist entities in determining whether miniature horses can be accommodated in their facility. The assessment factors are (1) whether the miniature horse is housebroken; (2) whether the miniature horse is under the owner’s control; (3) whether the facility can accommodate the miniature horse’s type, size, and weight; and (4) whether the miniature horse’s presence will not compromise legitimate safety requirements necessary for safe operation of the facility.
https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm
So if you want to change the ADA or FAA regs to restrict service animals the size of a miniature horse go right ahead. Just realize about half of all service dogs fall into this category, and think about the repercussions.