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Tabitha Darling rides Trixie down the dairy aisle at her neighborhood Target store.

Seeing-eye Controversy

David Schechter reports

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FORT WORTH — What's a horse doing in the dairy aisle at Target?

Last week we reported on an expanding list of service animals for the disabled, including ferrets, monkeys and horses. The story has ignited a controversy among some in the disabled community who say using a horse to get around in a grocery store goes too far.

Trixie the seeing-eye pony knows Target like the back of her slip-proof pink boots. "She means the world to me," said Tabitha Darling, Trixie's owner. "Not just a working animal, but — well — my friend."

Darling is legally blind, with a bone condition that she says can make walking painful.

The Americans with Disabilities Act makes it illegal for stores to refuse entry to a service animal. But while Tabitha says Trixie is critical to her independence, she is now drawing fire from some, accused of abusing the system.

"She doesn't need to be riding it around like Lady Godiva in a store," said Carolyn Finefrock, who has far less vision than Darling and uses a more traditional seeing-eye dog and a wheelchair for mobility. Finefrock thinks licensing service animal users would eliminate abuse.

"What about people who really can't walk? What about people who really can't see?" she asked.

Lex Frieden, a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, helped develop the Americans with Disabilities Act. What does he think of going shopping with a horse?

"There are other solutions besides that one that are more functional and more appropriate for her," Frieden said. "But consider this: It's her choice."

Frieden has been using a wheelchair since he was injured in a car accident when he was a college student. He favors a case-by-case review of a person's disability. Any blanket solution, he says, is a step in the wrong direction.

"We actually stop innovation; we stop discovery; and we actually provide a cap on what's possible," he said. "Who knows what's possible in the future?"

Tabitha Darling says she is often asked why she insists on riding a horse inside a store when there are other options. Her answer?

It's what works best for her.

E-mail dschechter@wfaa.com