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they have the same needs as a large horse. obviously not as much hay but they still need their hooves trimmed every 6 weeks or so. their shots, grooming and exercise. they need to be trained. there is a huge difference between one miniature horse's breeding and another. they should look like a well bred normal size horse only small. a good deal of the inexpensive ones are not put together well at all and the only thing to recommend them as mini's are their small size.
Location: Finally escaped The People's Republic of California
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We had one 20 years ago. Got it for my daughter to teach her responsibility. She took care of it real well, and learned what it takes to own a horse. One plus was my wife was able to teach our daughter on the ground work associated with horses, on one that was little like her. It was simple for her to go to a full size mare two years later
There are miniature horse shows and competitions nation-wide. Miniature horses can be ridden by small children, and can be trained to pull sulkies and other small wheeled vehicles which can be ridden by one or two adults.
Like full-sized horses, miniatures have distinct personalities, considerable intelligence and can be both willful and affectionate. Their life-span is equivalent to that of full-sized horses, too - up to 30+ years. Ownership of a horse of any size is a commitment not to be undertaken lightly.
Unfortunately, there are far too many miniature horses just now, due to irresponsible excess breeding. As a result, the present supply of minis exceeds the demand considerably. Friends of mine are trying to sell off some of their horses and even have said they would give horses away to anyone offering a good home - but have had few takers.
Feeding two dozen horses twice a day and mucking out stalls daily gets old after twenty some-odd years....
I saw an article about minitures being trained in place of service dogs for blind people, since they live so much longer than dogs. There was a wonderful photo of the little horse with sort of pink sneakers on (shaped for hooves) and pink bows.
I gather they can come into the house, sit on the couch and behave like an indoor dog while guiding.
A farm near me boards someone's herd of little horses (about two dozen). They were out at pasture with a bunch of their foals- even littler!
Out here in the West, I've seen a lot of these mini's around ... and they are essentially lawn ornaments.
Some folk lavish a lot of time and energy on them, and head to shows out of the region with them.
We had one neighbor that had been into the show circuit with some very high dollar mini's turn them loose on a relative's open pasture, abandoning them when she got tired of them. With 3 stallions, her brood mares turned into a 50 horse wild group of unattended mini's. As they started having serious health issues due to total neglect, we offered to take them off her hands and place them in homes where they'd be appreciated, or at the least, cared for. She sent us the brand papers she had and we had to get a bunch of them brand inspected, and it took us two years to get all but one stallion placed in good homes. The one stallion was her prior top show horse, but so unmanageable and wild after years of neglect that nobody wanted to take him. We wound up keeping him as a lawn ornament for 6 years before he passed.
Another new neighbor moved here from the East coast, where he'd been showing mini's for years. Claims that his top stallion is a $100,000 horse and has a wall full of blue ribbons to show off. Unfortunately, not one of those ribbons can feed or care for the horse or the others that he brought with him. There's no shows around here and no interest in breeding services, so the horse is essentially worthless in this area ... worth about $6/hundredweight at the sale barn.
Yet another neighbor, located along a route I used to ride, has about 80 mini's. Kept in corrals, with limited space, they are pretty much neglected horses but at least they have adequate feed and water. It appears to again be a case of someone coming into the area not realizing that these are just going to be lawn ornaments and having an active breeding program. So lots of mini's on the ground with no job, nothing to do, and he doesn't work with them at all or train them. Just a bunch of wild horses.
eling, unless you have a use for a mini and can really put it to work ... such as a show horse with an active circuit in your area or as a therapy horse, I'd advise you to consider standard size horses if you want to have one to ride. If you are just seeking a companion animal, there's a lot less work with dogs ....
Not all mini's can be ridden. Some are too small to be ridden even by children. Our mini is 34" tall...too small to ride but she can pull. We bought her primarily for fun (we have big horses) and as a companion for my daughters dressage horse.
Shots cost the same as a big horse, worming is cheaper (one tube goes a long way), hooves only need trimming about every 8-10 weeks. The big thing to remember with mini's is that overfeeding can kill them through laminitis. You don't want to turn them out on lush pasture....or sometimes, any pasture at all.
My daughter with her mini, Sarah-Jane:
Out here in the West, I've seen a lot of these mini's around ... and they are essentially lawn ornaments.
Some folk lavish a lot of time and energy on them, and head to shows out of the region with them.
We had one neighbor that had been into the show circuit with some very high dollar mini's turn them loose on a relative's open pasture, abandoning them when she got tired of them. With 3 stallions, her brood mares turned into a 50 horse wild group of unattended mini's. As they started having serious health issues due to total neglect, we offered to take them off her hands and place them in homes where they'd be appreciated, or at the least, cared for. She sent us the brand papers she had and we had to get a bunch of them brand inspected, and it took us two years to get all but one stallion placed in good homes. The one stallion was her prior top show horse, but so unmanageable and wild after years of neglect that nobody wanted to take him. We wound up keeping him as a lawn ornament for 6 years before he passed.
Another new neighbor moved here from the East coast, where he'd been showing mini's for years. Claims that his top stallion is a $100,000 horse and has a wall full of blue ribbons to show off. Unfortunately, not one of those ribbons can feed or care for the horse or the others that he brought with him. There's no shows around here and no interest in breeding services, so the horse is essentially worthless in this area ... worth about $6/hundredweight at the sale barn.
Yet another neighbor, located along a route I used to ride, has about 80 mini's. Kept in corrals, with limited space, they are pretty much neglected horses but at least they have adequate feed and water. It appears to again be a case of someone coming into the area not realizing that these are just going to be lawn ornaments and having an active breeding program. So lots of mini's on the ground with no job, nothing to do, and he doesn't work with them at all or train them. Just a bunch of wild horses.
eling, unless you have a use for a mini and can really put it to work ... such as a show horse with an active circuit in your area or as a therapy horse, I'd advise you to consider standard size horses if you want to have one to ride. If you are just seeking a companion animal, there's a lot less work with dogs ....
Just like with any other species of pets, service animals, livestock etc., people are just plain stupid is what you are saying (politely) and I agree . Even with big horses - so many of them are so ill behaved and their owners so crazy and out of touch with their own abilities (or in denial of their horses' lack of training and abundance of bad manners) - it is a miracle how a lot of these owners survive (well, a lot of them boast (proudly!) broken bones, punctured lungs etc.)...
Someone once said "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man" (Winston Churchill?). I say "There is something about the outside of a horse that brings out the crazies"...
I have two horses (my wife and I ride a lot) and we avoid people who have them like vampires avoid garlic...
We ranch for a living so have always had a small string of cow ponies. However one year about 10 years ago, I got high or something and decided we needed a mini. "Good for the kids" was the argument, as I recall.
He is a worthless PIA. We love him anyway, but he's really nothing more than comic relief around here. On the bright side, we trim his feet as often as he needs it (which thus far is about once every four to five years) And he could stay fat and sassy on tumbleweeds and dirt... So, he's not worth anything, but he doesn't cost us anything, either. Wormer, vaccinations, and that's about it.
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. Even with big horses - so many of them are so ill behaved and their owners so crazy and out of touch with their own abilities (or in denial of their horses' lack of training and abundance of bad manners) - it is a miracle how a lot of these owners survive (well, a lot of them boast (proudly!) broken bones, punctured lungs etc.)...
