Thanks for the input. That confirms some of my thoughts.
She's just getting back into riding, so she's no flexibility whiz. She has bad joints from playing college basketball so she needs a more upright and comfortable ride.
Sounds like the LHT might be too stretched out for her. I think I'll just trick out her hybrid for now and ease her into the idea of bike shopping--ride a bunch of bikes and see if there's anything out there that will work for her. If nothing works, I really like the powder-coating idea.