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Thread: Service mini- horse on American Airlines
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Old Feb 18, 2020 | 12:39 pm
  #38  
JDiver
Moderator: American AAdvantage
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This was a Service Animal horse, a miniature horse. Service (mi I) Horses are legitimate, service trained and necessary for their owners to successfully perform activities are daily living. American Airlines (and the Air Carrier Access Act, which applies to airlines in the USA) follow current Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines regarding service miniature horses. The most common use for a service horse is as a guide animal for people who are blind or have visual impairments. A Service Dog May live ~12 years, a Service Horse may live ~35 years.

A service animal is defined as an animal that ‘is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability’. In 2011, the only animal recognized as a service animal was a dog. However recently the laws have changed to allow miniature horses to be trained to work and perform tasks for someone with a disability. These are new and separate provisions from the ADA which allows both service dogs and service miniature horses to be recognized as service animals and support a disabled person.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the new regulations state that places and policies that are already in place must now permit miniature horses, where reasonable, to be treated the same as dogs.

The miniature horses should be 24 inches to 34 inches in height and weight around 70 to 100 pounds. There are four regulations provided by the ADA which work as assessment factors to determine where a miniature horse can enter a facility:
  • Whether the miniature horse is housebroken
  • If the miniature horse is under control
  • If the facility can accommodate the miniature horse’s size, weight, and type
  • Whether the miniature horse will not compromise safety requirements for safe operation for the whole of the facility and other members of the public
As miniature horses are much bigger than dogs, they have to follow more regulations to ensure they are providing a safe service to their owner as well as the people around them. Link.


We will merge this into the existing thread and leave it closed. /Moderator
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