Minature Horses

[juliebee]

Horse update here. The barn is finished. The pasture is fenced. Everything is ready. Change of plans though, my friend found me the
perfect horse. Not a mini, but a Tennesee Walking horse. He is a bay gelding with a sweet disposition. I am a super happy camper!! We rode in the arena friday, and he is so smart and patient. Going back out today, as I can finally sit again. : )

 

[amyquilt]

this thread has answered so many questions for me!

 

[Farmer's Daughter]

I have 3 mini horses, 1 mini donkey, and 1 haflinger mare!

 

[Horsiezz]

Here is my miniature stallion,hes about 32in and a year and a half old. Here he is decorated for a Memorial Day parade with my niece. He is going to start being trained to drive next year,and shown in halter. Hes also trick trained,and does some jumping Hes registered and has some of the best miniature bloodlines out there! Hes a good boy.

 

[havencroft]

Getting in late but love that the "little ones" are appreciated here.
We have been raising and showing miniatures for over ten years and LOVE these guys.
Particularly enjoy driving them and the people we meet with them.
Here are a few of ours!

This is Jetta she is a 2yr old silver dun filly who showed for the first time this year.

Neon is a yearling stallion

And here is one of our weanlings from this year, "Cowboy"
He's going to stay under 30 inches.

You can take a look at our website if you are interested

www.havencroftminis.com

 

[xxIsabellaxx]

Good Question. I am the girl who blew out birthday candles and wished for a horse. Sadly after 40 years I am still doing this. Do you think owning a minature would be a good place to start? I would like one that pulled a cart.

I work with two Mini Horses every Sturday in my 4-H club. I learned that They are just as much work as a full sized horse. If you want them to start driving ( pulling a cart) you need to start small and introduce the harness, start ground driving, which is making the horse run without the cart. But if this is your first time owning a miniature horse you might want to wait till they get used to you, and your barn. Mini can also become overweight. I am currently working on slimming down the horses we work with.

If you have any questions feel free to ask me. If i don't know them i can ask my 4-H leaders.

 

[Double T]

Heck yes I wanna see pictures!! We were wondering about the feed. Where the barn will be built is just bare dirt right now. So no grazing for the little fellas. I guess that will be okay since they will get fat on air
The barn raising is this week end. My husband is a farm boy so he has it planned out. In his head. Any suggestions on the barn? The outside will be like a lean to only he is going to enclose it. I am not certain what the inside will be like. I think it would be cute to have little doors for them like the big horses get.

MIni's are a ton of fun! Feed, they take about 1/4 of what a big (QH) horse takes. about the same for land, but honestly they do NEED room to run, and they can graze a place down just like a big guy can. Main thing is to NOT forget that they are horses, no matter how small, they are horses, they can still bite, kick, and paw, so don't go to treating them like a puppy dog or it can have bad consequences. NOT all get fat on air either, most are prone to being easy keepers but there are those that aren't. They are also more prone to foundering, so be watchful of that.
Riding is a sore subject, a mini can't carry over 40bls safly (even if they are tall ones) without it being too hard on their backs, but they can pull 2 to 3 times their weight. Don't start any weight training until after they are 2 yrs old though.

Fencing is the same for any horse, I personally won't use an electric becuase mini's can and do get shaggy in the winter (mine have gotten up to 3 inches of hair and we are in a warm climate) and the e-fence won't go through that, so they are more likely to break through.

They are a ton of fun the possiblities with them are endless! My little stud is taught to drive, and he's also a trick trained horse, and we've done several FFA and school functions for the kids they LOVE it!

 

[hannahbanana3]

I love miniature horses they were our first farm animal. make sure it has a good personality because minis can have a tendancy to be nasty sometimes, and dont baby it too much other wise they can get out of control, thats what happened to mine. they are great with kids too. make sure to have extra room because they are like potato chips you cant have just one.

 

[desperado3fan29]

i just got my first mini any advice would be helpful

 

[desperado3fan29]

i just got my first mini any advice would be helpful