Mona Ramouni has been blind since birth, but that hasn’t stopped her from achieving her goals.
Now 28, Ramouni, of Dearborn, has been looking for more independence.
While fighting boredom one day, Ramouni came across a topic she found interesting – miniature horses used as guide animals.
“In the blind community, most people know about it, you hear about it,” she said. “So, I had heard about it, but didn’t think it was important.
“In the Muslim community, technically you’re not supposed to have a dog in the house. If you can find another way, you’re supposed to try.”
Later, Ramouni began reading about the Panda Project. The Panda Project was Alexandra Kurland’s story of training a mini horse for her friend, Ann Edie.
Ramouni began e-mailing people involved with miniature horses as guide animals. She was met with some difficulty when she began looking for more information.
“If I find something I’m interested in, they’re going to have to answer my questions,” Ramouni said. “The more that people kept discouraging me, the more I pushed. I wanted to see how far I could push it.”
One person Ramouni e-mailed was Dolores Arste, who was involved in the Panda Project.
“She replied, ‘Where are you located?'” Ramouni said.
Arste spends her time between Arkansas and New York and has been training horses and dogs for 35 years – though not usually in this capacity.
“This is the first horse I’ve trained completely as a seeing guide horse,” Arste said.
Arste is the one who found Mexi “Cali” Rose, Ramouni’s guide horse.
“I put the word out to the miniature horse breeders I knew, Arste said. “I needed to find a good horse – a horse with a really good background was important.”
Arste said she knew Cali was the right horse when she took her for a walk at a crowded event.
“Cali was completely unaffected by the crowds, children and pictures,” Arste said.
Ramouni said she really wanted to become independent, to be able to go places, take walks by herself,
“Not being able to see is crappy,” she said. “Not being able to do stuff other people take for granted is worse.”
Ramouni looks at Cali as her way to becoming independent.
“I have cane skills, but it’s not the same as with a guide animal,” she said. “I do not have to hit something to know it’s there. Even my sister runs me into stuff.
“Walking with Cali was the coolest thing. It felt like I could see.”
Ramouni works two jobs and saved up enough money to pay for Cali’s expenses.
“The only reason I could afford Cali was because I had been saving money,” she said. “Now, I’m at the point where I’m like, ‘I need money.'”
Cali came to live with Ramouni last week.
“She could live a good 30 to 40 years; she could live a good long time,” Ramouni said.
To read more about the Panda Project visit http://www.theclickercenter.com/panda/ or about Cali’s training visit http://theeyesofmona.blogspot.com.
