Minature Horses

[juliebee]

Wow! Those are some pretty horses! Will you train them to pull together? I wish I could spend sometime learning first hand. A friend of ours is looking for the horses for us. An Amish family raises and trains them. Then their kids ride them everywhere. They also pull carts. I guess the hard part is the kids faces when you pull out of the drive. As far as the barn goes, the first poles went into the ground yesterday. Still no idea what it is going to look like. But more importantly I need to learn how to take care of them. BUT I will learn. Good point about not letting them get spoiled. I am the spoiler and dh is the one who makes everybody toe the line. We have great dogs, but I cannot take credit for it. They do cute tricks for me, but are obedient because of him. Well time to go feed the chicks. Thanks to everyone for the help and the pictures. I would gladly accept any and all advice. Oh and pictures. Those are great

 

[wynedot55]

those are some cute minis.

 

[Misty]

Thanks. We enjoy and use Romeo a lot here. When I got him at 1 year old he had already been imprinted and extensively handled by children at the stables where he was born. All I had to do was introduce him to the bridle (and the commands) , saddle and cart. He was calm an willing, no problems. Imprinting and early handling makes later training a lot easier

 

[haviris]

I won't be training them to pull together, they don't match up well enough, but I think it will be nice to have a spare! I also have a fixer upper cart I will be getting ready to start using to.

Me and Skip go out to a friends house and drive w/ her, but it will be nice to go from here w/ a family member!

And I also wanted to mention, I love Romeo's dapples!

 

[StrawberryHouseMouse]

I thought about getting a mini for my daughters. They are way too small to ride a normal sized horse, and figured they would love cart riding too. I really love the white one - Crystal. She is gorgeous. How much grains do you feed them a day? Or do you only do that in winter? How much pasture space does a mini need?

Not trying to steal your thread - Just asking some questions me and you both could learn from.

 

[haviris]

Thank you, Chrystal is really pretty, but she's not overly friendly, the other two are complete attention hogs, but not Chrystal, once caught you can do what you want/need, but catching her is the big challange.

How much I feed depends on the type and how much work they are doing, but even in full work they don't eat that much.

 

[juliebee]

I thought about getting a mini for my daughters. They are way too small to ride a normal sized horse, and figured they would love cart riding too. I really love the white one - Crystal. She is gorgeous. How much grains do you feed them a day? Or do you only do that in winter? How much pasture space does a mini need?

Not trying to steal your thread - Just asking some questions me and you both could learn from.

Jump on in! I have wondered about the pasture space and feed too. Haviris, we want to cruise around the "neighborhood" too. We just got information about an amish family in Indiana that train and sell the minis.
We live in Illinois so thats pretty close.

 

[Countrymom]

Our Mini and shetlands have been a blessing to our children. All three of them have shown their ponies and now the oldest has them all trained. My oldest also purchased another shetland - almost small enough to be a mini that she is training. It is saddle broke and now driving in harness. Hoping to hook up to cart as soon as it gets it's repairs. I have enjoyed the ponies overall also for their spunk and heart. None of ours have ever been really mean. We do have one gelding that doesn't like to be caught, but once caught he is the one everyone wants to show or ride. LOL

Here is my youngest showing his mini mare Jewel at the 07 Stock show.

And jumping Jewel in hand with big sister's help....

And my oldest's training pony in a rough coat. He is still learning to set up here and is a bit stretched out funny. LOL He is also a very unusual color. He is a silver dapple pinto, but has white squiggly markings on his back. Very hard to describe.

 

[wynedot55]

love those pics.

 

[Ninny]

Glad i found this thread cause im wondering too! I like horses but i don't care much for riding. So a couple pet minis is what im thinking.

Heres a couple nobodys asked yet.

Fencing, what type and how high. If hot wire how many stands? I found electric netting used for goats and sheep would that work?
How easy do they founder and colic?
How different is their care for big horses?