mini-horses

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I'm so excited...someone is giving us a HERD of wonderful little horses! There's a 4 yr.old silver appy mama with her year-old filly, plus a 10 yr. old stud who will be gelded, and mama is ready to foal again (thanks to the stud) any day! All were originally rescued in bad shape at an auction. Now the owner has lost her job and has to reduce the number of mouths she's feeding. Rather than sell the horses, she is giving them to us with a written contract that we will not sell, breed, or seperate them, because they all have a very strong bond. We are so looking forward to their arrival! I don't think I've ever seen kids clean a barn with such enthusiasm. ;) Having no experience with minis, I'd like to hear from anyone who has them. I know it's basically the same as caring for regular horses, but tell me about the differences.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), August 16, 2001

Answers

Congradulations on your mini's. Mini's are great! Just don't overfeed them. Thats the biggest mistake most new people make. I can feed 3 mini's on the same amount of feed that one dairy goat eats. Mini's can carry 1/4 to 1/3 of their body weight depending on condition and conformation. I had a pack saddle made for my mare that was designed just for mini's. Since my mare weighs about 350 lbs. she can pack about 85-100. They can pull carts and be used for light draft work also. Good luck!! and have fun with them.

-- miller (smillers@snowcrest.net), August 16, 2001.

Shannon, that is great for you, dont have any but have heard that they can have digestive problems, probably want to feed them small meals though out the day rather then two large meals[ pasture would be best so they could eat off and on all day].stay away from grain. and fresh carrots[ grated maybe]would be a nice supplment for them.they look so cute pulling carts and a small one can pull 2 humans in a cart! enjoy.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), August 16, 2001.

How's the parasite load on them? Most the minis that I see (and especially the rescue ones) have them by the bucketload, because the people that buy them as pets know nothing about a regular deworming schedule. If they haven't been on a regular schedule, get your vet to do a work up on what kind of load they are carrying and if it's high, think about deworming for one variety of worm at a time, so they don't simultaneously dump into the horse's system and block the blood vessels, intestines, etc. (it can also set up a toxic reaction if you kill too many at once in very parasite ridden horses....I am hoping you don't have to deal with this since they have already been through one new owner, but it is something to check)

Also get their teeth looked at. Minis have notoriously BAD teeth, usually an overbite, but I've seen awful underbites as well on the rescue ones, due to poor breeding. Check the feet...there has been some kind of a weird fashion trend to file them off into triangles with pointed toes. Luckily, they don't have a lot of weight to be carried, but it still weakens the weight bearing capacity and should be normalized.

Since their antecedants are ponies, feed them as you would a pony -- grass hay predominantly, and very little to no concentrates, other than something as a mineral/vitamin supplement. They may still need building up if they came from a neglect situation. I like to use Stride myself, since we are in a selenium deficient area, and it also has a kelp base. My animals all gobble it up as a wonderful treat,so have any other horses I've put onto it to recuperate, and if you are weaning them down from high grain rations (they have a high founder consideration), it helps as a substitute, and carrots to make up the difference are usually accepted.

Foaling is something that you want to attend, rather than leave the mare on her own. Lots of minis have difficulty and may need human help to survive it.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), August 16, 2001.


Not to scare you, but definitely watch for the delivery. My friend had two pregnant mini mares and lost both foal. She also had one mare with a horrible digestive tract. Never was able to cure her completly of diaherrea. Finally sold all but one mare and stallion. The last foal birthed fine this past spring. Good luck and enjoy them ! They are cuties for sure.

-- cindy palmer (jandcpalmer@sierratel.com), August 17, 2001.

Hi Shannon....we breed and show minis ,and mostly use them with special needs adults and children.If they are not going to be bred I guess you don't have that worry.They don't have MORE foaling problems tha big horses,but when they have a problem its usually grave,as there is no room to manipulate the foal.We have found that they often go 365 days in foal. When we get a skinny one we worm with equvalan.Trim feet and put them on oats and hay,with a multi vitamin.Ours get 3/4 of a soup can (campbells) of whole oats twice daily ,mostly as a way to control their coming in and out of pasture.And about 1 flake of hay each,2 x daily.I did buy a fussy little girl who was spoiled and on 17% alfalfa pellets when I bought her.I thought she looked good so I kept her on them,but I soaked them first,the thought of feeding a mini pellets and having them swell in her gut ,terrified me.Protein requirements are higher in the fall when they are coating up,so if you live in cold climate they need lots of good hay in the fall.NO rich hay!!I know you know this but for others who may be reading,......don't ever ,ever ever let your horses or cows eat fresh grass clippings,when you take these little horses to public places, watch for folks feeding them little goodies.Kids like to hand feed them don't allow it ,they get to me pesky then.I have'nt had or seen any teeth trouble.Babies are vulnerable to coyotes and dogs,so keep them protected.(by the way..they are about 18 inches and pounds at birth)There is a good website,www.littlebeginnings.com.....go there for info.If that is the wrong url let me know.Good luck enjoy!!!

-- teri murphy (dnsmacbeth@aol.com), August 20, 2001.


Sorry that was get to BE pesky...:)...like they start biting!!They are hard to resist spoiling as babies they will crawl into your lap etc...I"m excited for you.I slept in the barn for a month!!!E-mail me iffin you need anything!!!

-- teri murphy (dnsmacbeth@aol.com), August 20, 2001.

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