About service horses ￼

What is a service horse?

In the United States, federal law allows miniature horses that are 34 inches and shorter to be service animals. They are held to the same standards as service dogs, so they must perform a task that mitigates a disability and must be housebroken.

What can service horses do?

The list of things miniature horses can do for people is a long one. They can guide the blind, pull wheelchairs, help people balance, alert to oncoming medical problems, assist a handler before or during a medical event, retrieve objects, remind people to take their medication, and much more.

If you break these general categories down into all of the component behaviors, the list is nearly endless. For instance, the checklist of behaviors that our guide horses must know has more than 100 items on it.

Why would someone want a service horse?

There are a number of reasons somebody might choose to get a service horse over a dog. One of the most common ones is the lifespan of a horse. Horses live an average of 25 to 30 years, with miniature horses meeting and exceeding 30 years more commonly than larger breeds. The career of a working horse can easily be three times that of a working dog, so the initial upfront investment stretches longer, and it is much more emotionally feasible for many people who could not handle replacing a dog every eight years, which is the average career for a service dog.

There are some tasks that horses are much more suitable for than dogs, with anything weight-bearing being the most obvious example. Horses are incredibly solid, sturdy animals. They are able to pull and carry far more weight than even the largest breeds of dogs, which have tragically short lifespans. The height range of miniature horses is equivalent to that of Great Danes, but their compact frame makes them much stronger, which allows a horse to give someone more assistance when helping them get up from the floor, walk up stairs, balance while walking, catch their balance if they stumble, and any number of other tasks.

There are also of course, cultural, religious, and personal reasons. A service dog is not an option for someone who is allergic to or afraid of dogs for pretty obvious reasons, and some cultures and religions see dogs’ saliva as unclean and do not allow them in the house.

Are service horses even practical? Don’t they have to eat all the time?

It is true that a miniature horse will never be as practical as a 65 pound Labrador, but they are capable of far more than many people realize, and not as impractical as you might think.

It is true that horses are trickle feeders who are designed to eat a little bit nearly all of the time. This actually works out quite nicely because our service horses are trained with positive reinforcement, which utilizes food rewards. They will happily work for hay pellets and, if you’re going on a longer outing, you can give them the occasional larger handful to keep them satiated.

Being grazing animals, it is true that horses poop a lot more than dogs. However, once fully house trained, they can easily go for six hours between potty breaks, which is more than enough time for many outings or to schedule a break partway through the day.

It doesn’t come nearly as naturally for them as it does for dogs, but horses can be taught to walk up and down stairs.

For the most part, their hooves don’t cause nearly as much of a problem with slipping as you might think. If a surface is particularly slick or a horse is doing weight-bearing on a surface with less grip, you can easily pop boots on their feet to give them the extra traction they need.

Transportation tends to be the biggest issue. Horses’ spines are far less flexible than dogs, so they can’t simply curl up in the footwell of a small car. A van with a backseat removed tends to be the most practical option. They take up about the same or less space than a manual wheelchair, so fitting them in most places isn’t too much of an issue.

Unfortunately, a service horse will bring far more attention than any other kind of assistance. Many people are not familiar with service horses, and, even if they are, it’s not every day that they see a 28 inch tall pony in the grocery store. If you ever encounter a working team, please remember that the horse is trying to do an important job, and distracting them is rude at best and potentially dangerous to the handler at worst.

With all of that said, there are many people who find that the benefits a horse brings them far outweigh these practical issues.