A blind girl who is scared of dogs has been given a guide pony. Vivienne Schlier takes her Shetland pony Hugo to school, the park and to visit friends. “I dont like dogs and much prefer ponies. I feel completely safe with him,” said the pupil, from Stemwede, in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany.
Hugo is able to follow 26 commands, including ‘Sit’, ‘Heel’ and ‘Invade Poland’. Rumours that the pony has even been trained to play football have been scotched after it was revealed that it was only Lothar Matthaus coming out of retirement.
His trainer Erik Dettmer said: “Ponies live three times longer than dogs, have a wider field of vision and a very good memory. More ponies should be trained to help the blind, especially by me because I need the money. Plus there’s really good eating on a horse when they eventually keel over. You can make about 170 bratwursts from a Shetland pony.”
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Thanks to Jealous Huw for alerting us to this