Sometime next year, Cheryle King and her seeing-eye horse, Cricket, could sit down next to you in the local Denny's. Or get on the bus from King's Gig Harbor-area home to Tacoma. Or walk down the aisles of the local Safeway, shopping for groceries together. No horsing around here. She's such a sweetie.
Cricket leaves for the training next month.
The two have been raising horses for more than three decades. Twinkie, a miniature mare, was their guinea-horse. The couple also is training several other horses for seeing-eye duties, including Cuddles, a miniature mare who could become the first of her kind in animal service. She's destined for a blind man in Maine. The Burlesons got the idea to train miniature horses for seeing-eye duty while riding their larger cousins in New York's Central Park, Janet Burleson said.