{"id":5893,"date":"2019-03-29T09:51:15","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T13:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=5893"},"modified":"2025-08-23T16:31:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T20:31:51","slug":"sometimes-the-best-service-dog-is-a-horse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2019\/03\/29\/sometimes-the-best-service-dog-is-a-horse\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes the Best Service Dog Is a Horse"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Angel Is Trotting Around Dr. J’s Yard<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr. Jacqui Lowman has had Saint, who has been helping with her mobility needs, for the last nine years.\u00a0 \u201cSaint has been a good dog.\u00a0 But unfortunately, it\u2019s time for me to look for another service animal,\u201d Dr. J said.\u00a0 As much as she has enjoyed having Saint, she has decided to go with something that will live longer.\u00a0 Dr. J has decided to get a horse.\u00a0 \u201cHer name is Angel and she is a Dales Pony.\u00a0 She is black and will be 30 inches tall when she is fully grown,\u201d Dr J said.\u00a0 Dr. J decided to get a pony over another dog because of the heartache.\u00a0 \u201cDogs have been great, but it\u2019s always breaking your heart when they die.\u00a0 My miniature would live two to three times longer than a dog, so I wouldn\u2019t have to go through the heartache as often,\u201d Dr. J said. <\/p>\n

Ben Shaw, chief business officer for UMPI, was surprised she wasn\u2019t getting another dog. \u201cI was intrigued.\u00a0 I obviously had some thoughts about how we were going to be able to make sure to support the horse on campus.\u00a0 We have some work to do. But that was an interesting change for her,\u201d Ben said.<\/p>\n

When Dr. J had the opportunity to meet Angel before getting her, she fell in love.\u00a0 \u201cShe is beautiful!\u00a0 She has puppy dog eyes and reminds me very much of Saint,\u201d Dr. J said.\u00a0 Dr. J has been working vigorously with UMPI to get everything set up for Angel.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re working with UMPI to have a corral, because I have this fenced yard around my house.\u00a0 Angel has that at home, but sometimes I am here for very long days and she will have to go out,\u201d Dr. J said. \u201cWe put a couple thoughts together on where the corral will go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ll put the corral near where Dr. J parks Miracle,\u201d Ben said.<\/p>\n

Though the adjustment period has been longer, Dr. J found out that Angel is vegan!\u00a0 \u201cIt took me a while to adjust, because she eats differently from a dog.\u00a0 I\u2019m excited because she\u2019s a vegan, too.\u00a0 She eats her oats and hay and even though she is very small, she can eat big carrots and big apples,\u201d Dr. J said as she fed Angel a carrot, who took it quickly.\u00a0 When Dr. J first brought Angel with her to class, people were shocked!\u00a0 \u201cAt first, people thought I had another service dog until they heard all the noise and realized she has hooves.\u00a0 Then when they saw Angel, a lot of mouths dropped open,\u201d Dr. J said.<\/p>\n

Though Angel is a horse, she is still a service animal.\u00a0 \u201cEven though she is a horse, no one can ride her.\u00a0 She\u2019ll go any place with me: she goes into stores and stables.\u00a0\u00a0 She\u2019s very quiet.\u00a0 Most people don\u2019t hear her whinny, but she has been trained to if something happens,\u201d Dr. J said.\u00a0 Angel has some qualities similar to Saint, too!\u00a0 \u201cShe tries to be very careful when she crawls up on my lap because she doesn\u2019t want to hurt me with her hooves,\u201d Dr. J said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll make sure we follow any regulations with her.\u00a0 We have to make some changes because it is a horse and not a dog,\u201d Ben said.<\/p>\n

Angel will be a good service animal for Dr. J when Saint is no longer able to continue her service.\u00a0 Angel has already proven to act like Saint.\u00a0 She has opened doors, she exercises and she loves carrots.\u00a0 Dr. J is hoping that UMPI will be able to get the corral built in the summer so that Angel will have a place to run.\u00a0 If this all works out, Dr. J is planning to get another Dales pony when Angel is too old.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Jacqui Lowman has had Saint, who has been helping with her mobility needs, for the last nine years.\u00a0 \u201cSaint has been a good dog.\u00a0 But unfortunately, it\u2019s time for me to look for another service animal,\u201d Dr. J said.\u00a0 As much as she has enjoyed having Saint, she has decided to go with something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5893"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8472,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5893\/revisions\/8472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}