Who We Are?

So why a service miniature horse? I began looking at options for service animals who have a longer life expectancy when my service dog, Bear, started to get a little old in his years and a little grumpy if we were out for too long. It is hard to recognize the signs that your faithful companion may be ready to retire before you are. The first time you have to leave them at home can be heart wrenching for both of you. On average a dog can be expected to live 7-14 years, depending on the size genetics and bread.[1] So I started to look for other service animals that had a longer life expectancy.

Initially I started to look at Parrots, because I thought it would be funny that when was feeling stressed out to have the parrot say cuss words, or funny phrases. They are exceptionally intelligent and have a reputation for being in tune with the feelings of those around them. [2] The intelligence and the life span of the parrot made me start looking into them. They normally live to over 50 years of age. [3] The only problem was that parrots are not covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and so are not protected. They can be denied access to a place of business, they can also be denied for housing because emotional support animals are not protected.

So that got me to studying the ADA guidelines for a service animal. What I found was that in 2010 there was a revision that was put into place by the federal government to include miniature horses under the same protected status as service dogs. [4] That got me looking into miniature horses as service animals.

Now, I had some experience with horses growing up. My grandparents had horses that I helped take care of from time to time and a friend of mine had a ranch that I helped with periodically as well. However, I did not have any experience with miniature horses. As I was doing my research, I found many different articles about them and their life span tends to be around 35 years. [5] I learned about other organizations that have been taking miniature horses into care centers and hospitals for years. There was only one that I found that trains them for use with disabilities though. The Guide Horse Foundation trains them for use as seeing eye horses. There is such a huge demand that they have a waiting list. [6] They have been in the news and are some of the pioneers pushing for the miniature horses acceptance as a service animal.

These findings are what got me into founding Brave Horse Service Animals. We hope to join the masses of people who love these horses, train them and connect them with the veterans in order to serve those who have served us.

[1] https://www.petmd.com/dog/wellness/evr_dg_how_long_do_dogs_live

[2] https://birdsupplies.com/blogs/news/144489991-birds-eye-view-on-parrots-emotions#targetText=Parrot%20Emotions%3A%20Yes!&targetText=Parrots%20emotions%20are%20almost%20human,makes%20them%20almost%20human%20like.

[3] https://yourparrotcage.com/a-parrots-average-life-span/

[4] https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm

[5] https://www.petguide.com/breeds/horse/miniature-horse/

[6] http://guide-horse.org/