MONA Ramouni's fingers fly across the text as she proofreads yet another page of a calculus textbook to be published in Braille - with her guide pony sitting patiently by.
It is dull work for tiny Cali who serves as Ms Ramouni's eyes through a world she cannot see, and the pony keeps butting her head into Ms Ramouni's chest.
"Cali! Stop it,'' Ms Ramouni exclaims, but she can't keep the pride out of her voice when she realizes what the pretty brown pony with a soft black mane has gotten up to.
Rolling back her thick lips, Cali has grasped the tab of the zipper on the bag of treats Ms Ramouni carries around her waist and is slowly pulling it open with her teeth.
"She knows which part has the carrots,'' Ms Ramouni says in amazement. "She's really smart.''
Cali is just one of a handful of miniature horses in the United States known to be used as guide animals for the blind.
Weighing in at under 45 kilograms , miniature horses are about the same size as a large dog but are much stockier and can help support people with mobility issues.
They also have significantly longer life spans - they can live and work for more than 30 years while guide dogs are usually retired by age 12 - but require much more care and bear a far heftier price tag.
Cali is the first guide animal for Ramouni, 28, a devout Muslim whose parents - Jordanian immigrants - would not accept a dog into their home.
Dog saliva is considered unclean in Islamic teaching, although dogs are permitted to be used as work animals, such as guards or shepherds.
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