The Art of Natural Dressage

I have heard about it but I just thought Id share cos it is simply fantastic.
http://www.guidehorse.com/

I didnt know thos mini ponies live for 50 years

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Smile, and the world will smile with you.

I also find it fantastic in some ways, although the thought of a single pony living in a flat without other horses clouds my enthusiasm a bit. As I have never had my own dog I can´t say if it´s really enough for a dog to have his humans and no dog company (my dog owning friends say so, but for me it´s hard to imagine), but I have never seen a horse who was happy without other horses. Maybe it´s just a question of ethics and human´s vs. animal´s worth? I am not completely sure about my opinion on guide ponies yet.

Haha, I even have to be careful not to exaggerate it with Pia and let her live an unnatural life only because she is so small and it would be possible: my best friend has promised me to give me socks with rubber soles for Pia so that she won´t slip on the stairs and I can take her up to my flat. I am sure she would not mind sleeping in my bed, she wants to follow me everywhere anyway... but how far do I want to make her my pet and how healthy would that be for her? Not very much probably, but could I stop once it has become possible? Sorry, totally off-topic, I just had to think about this again when I saw the pictures of those cute minis in absoultely horse-untypical situations.

Thanks for posting the link, it´s very interesting!

Outdoor Animal - Many individuals prefer a guide animal that does not have to live in the house when off duty.

so the horse could have (a) friend(s) outside.

Many horse do like to have a clear and usefull function and according to horse logic, this would certainly count as usefull, where as doing competation and walking with your body in a certain frame is probably not...

I have no realy opinion about this just thinking out loud here. Certainly not all horses would be suitable for this, the same with dogs, humans... Giving care like this, is a gift, is it not?

About the dog... we had got Mike for Gina thinking she would love a dog compagnion, but she hasn't been as happy since he has passed away (yes she greeved, but after half a year, she is much more content then when he still was with her).
She gets to see dogs of course and plays with dogs that come to visit.
It's like a human living alone with dogs and meets humans outside the house

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www.equusuniversalis.com

I'm fascinated by this topic. I'm not so sure about horses, whether they need other horses for company to be happy. Our horse has to live alone and we are her herd (very part-time). She is definitely very bonded to us. When she sees other horses she only tries to get to them if they are stallions or geldings, mares don't interest her at all. As far as dogs: out of our 10 dogs (most of which live together in the house and get along great) only 1 sometimes prefers dog company to our (human) company. It's our whippet Sky, who can't find a human that runs fast enough to play chase with
It seems that in their experience most good things come from people: food, touch, warmth, toys, attention, walks, opening of doors etc.
I wonder if a horse that lives in the house with the owner bonds in the same way? I know that these miniature are trained with far more positive reinforcement all day long then what most horses get. I still think outdoor exercise and grazing time would be essential (maybe at night).

I'm really worried about that last argument of Birgit.
Horses are so very different from dogs in their eating habits.
I cannot imagine that the horse would be able to stay on a natural grazing-rhythm if he had to really care for a blind person:?