There's a 23-year-old BBC reporter in England named Mohammed Patel who has a degenerative eye condition, so he's legally blind. And he can't use a guide dog, because he has a major dog phobia!
...instead of a dog, he's getting his own personal seeing eye MINIATURE HORSE.
The horse's name is Digby and he's a little over two feet tall. He'll also be able to do things around the house, just like seeing eye dogs can.
He still needs a lot more training, which is being done in the U.S. So it might be another couple years before Mohammed takes custody of him. But they just met for the first time on Monday, and he says it's perfect, because he's always loved horses.
It sounds like the whole seeing eye mini-horse thing might become more and more common in the next few years.
There are more than ten of them being trained in the U.S. right now for visually impaired people who either have a fear of dogs, or severe allergies. And the other benefit is they live a lot longer. They can live up to 50 years.
That's amazing! I would never have thought of that, but horses ARE really intelligent, so it makes total sense. How cool!
[Metro]