Why is a horse suited to be a guide animal?
Horses have excellent vision. Because their eyes are mounted on the sides of their heads, they have nearly 350 degree vision. They can see almost in a complete circle around them. They also have excellent night vision and can see clearly in almost total darkness. They are strong and sturdy and reliable. Horses are also quite intelligent and excel at tasks that require long-term memory. They can actually be trained to do many things. One trainer taught his (full-sized) Arabian to catch a Frisbee! Now he is trying to teach the horse to throw the Frisbee. All guide horses must pass a field intelligence test to be accepted into the guide program, and they are trained to readily accept new experiences. A horse is a herd animal, and once the trained guide horse bonds with its handler, it accepts the handler as the dominant horse, the herd leader. The horses undergo hundreds of hours of training, modeled upon the training given to guide dogs but using horse psychology. It takes six months to
