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Miniature Horse Articles

-Introduction to the Miniature Horse

-Uses For the Miniature Horse

-Buying A Mini

-Health & Care

-Breeding

-Showing

-Prolific Miniature Horse Sires

-The Miniature Horse Standard of Perfection

-Miniature Horse Associations & Clubs

Introduction to the Miniature Horse

The American Miniature horse is truly a horse in miniature size. Contrary to popular belief it is not a pony breed. Many different types of miniature horses have evolved, including the arabian type, fallabella blends and the Australian Miniature horse. One thing agreed upon by breeders however, is that miniature equines of any type should, except for size, equal large horse standards in conformation and temperament.

Miniature horses do not exceed 34" in height. They are found in every color of the equine spectrum.

Miniatures should not be ridden by anyone but the smallest child. Anything over 60 pounds can cause lameness and back problems.

Miniatures can be shown in hand, jumping obstacles, halter classes, costume, liberty or showmanship. Driving is also a popular event and fun to do with your mini even at home.

Uses For The Miniature Horse

-Driving

-In Hand Showing (Obstacles, Jumping, Showmanship, Costume, Liberty)

-Breeding

-Pets

-Therapy Animals

Buying A Mini

Miniature horses can be a joy to own for the old and the young. Given their tractable nature and small size, they are easier to care for and cheaper to maintain than the average horse or pony.

They have become extremely popular as show, brood, therapy and companion animals.

What you look for in a mini depends on what you want it for. Show and brood animals are usually higher priced than un-registered pet stock and can climb into the tens of thousands for a richly pedigreed horse. Pet stock, especially young colts and geldings, can be found for much more affordable prices.

Miniatures can be found for sale at auctions, breeders, dealers, on the internet or in magazine and newspaper ads. They can be priced anywhere from $150 for an un-registered pet, to tens of thousands for breeding and show quality animals.

As in any equine purchase, having a knowledgeable horse or miniature horse person to take with you, is a very wise idea. Having a vet inspection is a valuable tool in determining the most important factors in the future of your mini's health and well being. A good bite and clean legs, as well as a history clear of colic and founder, are crucial.

Health & Care

The health and well being of your mini depends on you.

Regular vaccinations against tetanus and rabies are required yearly. Worming should be done every 3 months and regular hoof trimming every 4-6 weeks.

Housing of your mini can be as simple as a one stall barn, or a half acre to acre paddock minimum with a run-in shed or shelter. Miniatures, as with all horses, thrive when they are allowed to roam and excercise. Be sure not to use barb wire for your fencing and check the field regularily for hazards such as nails, poisonous plants and holes.

Bedding for your mini, if you choose to house them indoors for part of the day, can be shavings or straw. Bedding must be picked out of manure and urine every day to avoid to hoof conditions and respiratory issues.

Feeding your mini is easier and more cost efficient than a larger breed of horse or pony. Most minis thrive on a couple of flakes of hay a day. If you are showing or breeding, a small amount of supplemental feed can be added to keep the coat and body in top condition. A little vegetable oil added to the feed makes their coat shine and improves digestion.

As with ponies, miniatures should not over-fed or allowed to graze un-conditionally on lush grass or laminitis and subsequent founder can occur. Miniatures are prone to both of these debilitating hoof conditions and they are extremely painful to the horse as well as costly and emotionally draining to the owner. Treats: Apples and carrots make wonderful treats, but try to limit apples as too many can cause your mini to get gastric colic. A good rule of thumb is no more than one apple per day. Carrots can be fed more freely as they do not cause stomach upset. As with anything, use your better judgement. Too much of anything, is not good for anyone.

Regular grooming is essential to keep your mini healthy and happy. Miniatures grow thick wooly coats in winter and in spring they need to be groomed well to rid them of the extra hair and dirt that accumulates in their coat. Bathing should be kept to a minimum as soap removes the natural protective oils from the coat. On a hot day it is better to hose off your mini and walk it dry, then to completely bathe it. Bathing should only be done before showing or if the horse is extremely muddy/dirty. Remember to use a quality fly spray in the summer to keep pesky insects off your little equine.

Regular hoof picking will prevent thrush, lodged objects in the hooves and provide your mini with a level walking surface, thus preventing future lameness issues.

Teeth should be checked regularily for sharp hooks and worn down surfaces. Without their teeth being in good condition, minis can go downhill fast, due to not breaking down their food, or food avoidance from pain. Be sure to have their teeth floated or filed at least once a year.

Breeding

Breeding miniatures can be rewarding and challenging. Due to their diminutive size, foaling problems tend to occur more often in minis than any other breed of horse. Dwarfism is another concern in horses smaller than 30". Due to in-breeding in the initial stages of the breed, the dwarf gene is often present in registered champion bloodlines. Modern breeders are seeking to produce smaller and smaller minis, and sometimes the result is a health comprised foal.

Stallions should never be over the size of the mare. Speculation exists about the size of the foal in comparison to the mare, and some experts say that the foal will not grow larger than the mare's uterus can hold. Many breeders however, who have lost mares due to overly large foals, will dispute this notion. Given this knowledge, it is safer to breed a small stallion to a larger mare than vice versa and try to disprove this theory and potentially losing your mare and foal in the process.

Foals may be born any month of the year, but under natural conditions most will be born from March through June. That is because mares cycle normally in the northern hemisphere during the spring and early summer as the day length (and light) increases. The heat cycle is dependent on the number of hours of light - natural or artificial. The reproductive process usually begins in February-March, but the heat cycles are irregular. The highest conception rates in horses is recorded in April to July in the United States, and therefore, birth will be from March to June the next year.

Once mares begin to cycle normally, there is a fertile time when the mare will accept the stallion for breeding. This period of estrus, "heat" or "season," occurs every 21 days on the average. Most mares are "in heat" for about 5-7 days and most mares will come in season five to seven days after foaling, in what horse people call the "foal heat."

The most unique feature of a mare's cycle is that she ovulates 24-48 hours before the end of estrus. In order for conception to occur, the male sperm must be present at the time of ovulation. Therefore, the timing of breeding or insemination is very difficult in the mare. Most importantly, you must know your mare. She may cycle every 24 days or perhaps the duration of her heat cycle may only be 3 days. You must be observant and recognize when your mare is in heat. A mare coming into standing heat will show signs of increased activity and excitability. She will urinate frequently, carry her tail raised and occasionally show a "vulva winking," opening and closing the outer lips of the vulva. Once the mare will stand to be bred (standing heat), she will often back up to the stallion, as opposed to when not in heat, she may have kicked or bitten at him. The reproductive tract becomes a brighter reddish color as the circulation is increased, mucous excretion becomes more active, and the cervix is open. It is essential to tease a mare daily with a stallion or sometimes even a gelding to detect the onset of estrus. This is one of the biggest problems for the mare owner who plans to breed to a stallion located elsewhere.

Pregnancy can be ascertained after fourteen days by a variety of tests available to your veterinarian, the most certain of which is ultrasound, but a confirmed pregnancy does not insure a foal every year. The mare may abort, undetected, or may reabsorb the fetus. Most breeders are guided by the heat cycle: if the mare is serviced by a stallion and does not recycle in about 24 days, they consider her to be in foal.

Pregnancy with mini's is the same as larger horses, supplements should be added to her feed to keep the mare in condition while her body gives it's most needed nutrients to her growing fetus.

As the mare nears foaling, her abdomen will grow larger, fetal movements such as kicks, rolling and bouncing can be seen and felt, and the mare's mood may become different. She may become anti-social, nippy or sulky. She may back into walls and fences, rubbing her hind end to ease pressure from the foal within. Her udders will increase in size and texture and eventually the foal will change position causing a dropped look to the mare's belly. Hormones cause the pelvic and tail ligaments to relax, and the tailhead will become more prominant. From days to weeks before foaling, the mare will 'wax', which is the almost white, pre-cursor to colostrum (first milk) leaking from her teats and drying, resembling a dripping candle. Some mares will even actively drip white milk right before foaling, but make sure if she drips for longer than a day or so, that you collect this essential first milk for the coming foal, for if the mare loses too much there will not be any left to give the foal it's much needed immunities.

Waxing

Some mares go off their feed the day of foaling and others do not. Most will continue to eat their hay, sometimes well into the labor process, but evening feeds may be ignored. The mare may pace, sweat, grunt or lie down and get up as the labor process takes hold. Many, simply lie down and foal. Miniatures are well known for being sneaky, especially if they are maiden mares. (never foaled before).

During the birth process, try not to disturb your mare unless she has been straining for a while and no foal has appeared. Most foalings last 15-20 minutes. Much longer can mean there is a complication and urgent intervention is neccessary to save the mare and foal. Most of the time this means a bad birth positioning of the foal and simply introducing a scrubbed arm into the mare and repositioning the foal can save both lives. Keep your vet's number handy as well as a prepared foaling kit containing at the very least; towels, iodine, lubricant, string to tie off the umbilical cord, a child safe enema kit, and a camera!

The foaling process begins when the bag of amnion appears, encasing two front hooves, one ideally in front of the other. The foals nose should be on top of the front hooves. The water may or may not break with the pressure of the foal's hooves. If it does not break you can tear the membrane with your fingers and then let nature take it's course.

If the mare seems to be having trouble, grasp the foal's legs and pull downward toward the mare's hocks WITH the contractions. Pulling against them can cause the mare's uterus to tear.

Once the foal's shoulders are out, the hardest part of labor for the mare is over. This is when you should ensure that the foal's nose is clean and the airway is clear. If it isn't, grasp the foal's nose from the bone in the center and gently 'strip' the nostrils of fluid by squeezing gently and bring your fingers down towards the nostrils. Keep the foal's nose pointing down to do this or it will inhale fluid and potentially cause pneumonia.

Once the foal is born the mare will rest. This gives the foal time to look around, and take in it's mother's scent and it's surroundings. Towel dry the foal, and watch the mare to make sure she passes the placenta. (do NOT try to pull out the placenta!) At this time it is also crucial to make sure the umbilicus seperates from the foal on it's own and if it does not, tie it off about two inches from the foal's belly with string, dental floss, a shoelace; whatever you have handy, and then tear it between thumb and forefinger. Iodine the stump immedietly to prevent bacteria entering the stump.

The foal should stand within an hour of birth. If it has been longer than that, consult your vet. Make sure the foal nurses and passes urine and it's first stool (meconium) within a few hours, if not, administer a child's enema to the foal.

Close monitoring of the mare and foal for the next 24-48 hours is vital to make sure the mare passes all the afterbirth, the foal is nursing and voiding properly, and all is well with mom and baby.

Showing Miniature Horses

There are two ways you can show your miniature. Driving, and in-hand showing, which involves obstacle courses, showmanship, halter, costume classes or liberty.

Most shows concentrate their judging based on performance, conformation and height.

Because each miniature horse show are sponsored by different registries, each miniature horse show rules may be different.

Prolific Miniature Horse Sires

Rowdy

34" 1973 AMHA Bay Stallion
Kewpies Sun (unreg) X Unknown

Although Rowdy is out of unregistered stock, he proved his worth in the show ring and as a herdsire.

Boone's Little Buckeroo

(Poplar Lanes Sampson x Johnstons Vanilla) “BUCKEROO”, is a maternal grandson of GOLD MELODY BOY, and owned by LITTLE KING FARM. Boones Little Buckeroo is without a doubt, the most well-known miniature stallion in the world today. He holds the unequaled record of winning 3 National Grand Champion Senior Stallion Titles and 3 consecutive National Grand Champion Get of Sire Titles. His get retain the beautiful head, large eyes, graceful long neck, level top line, natural action and balance with excellent athletic ability and the important "Look At Me" attitude. Buckeroo sires National. Buckeroo get and grand-get won innumerous National Grands, Reserve National Grands, National Champions and Top Ten Awards in Halter and Performance over the years in AMHA and AMHR Nationals.

Bond Dynamo

(Bond Jocko x Bond Bambi) Served as a main herd sire in the legacy of Vern Brewer's breeding program for a number of years through today. As of this day, his bloodlines, especially when crossed with that of Orion-Light Van't Huttenest are still taking their places at the head of the class in the showrings from coast to coast. Dynamo was an outstanding sire and grandsire early in his career with over seven offspring that are National Grand and National Reserve Multi Champions. Dynamo was bred by the famous Bond Miniature Horse Farm and he has 84 registered foals to him with AMHA.

Bond Tiny Tim

The smallest horse ever listed in the AMHA studbooks at 19" Tiny Tim was originally registered in the IMHR and came into AMHA when the two registries merged. Foaled in 1970, the last of his foals was registered in 1984. He is the sire of Bond Miss Rie, who was the Reserve National Grand Champion Mare in 1984. Miss Rie's daughter, Bond Little Lucy B, went on to be National Champion Mare 30" and Under in 1986 and National Grand Champion Senior Mare in 1987.

Bond Snippet

(Bond Showboy x Bond Thumbalina) Owned by Modern Miniatures. 1986 AMHA World Champion Multi-Color Stallion 1987 AMHA Reserve World Grand Champion Stallion 1987 AMHA World High-Point Senior Stallion 1993 AMHA Reserve World Champion Get Of Sire Snippet accumulated in less than two years: 46 First Place Awards * 11 Second Place Awards * 4 Third Place Awards 19 Supreme Halter Horse Awards * 31 Grand Championships * 17 Reserve Grand Championships In 77% of shows, Snippet was Grand or Reserve Champion. In 31% of shows, Snippet was Supreme Halter Horse.

Del's Cowboy

(Sligo Little Stormy x Ruth Haynes Moto) One of the most beautiful golden palomino stallions in AMHA history, Cowboy has been an outstanding sire, passing on his quality and conformation to many of his offspring. Early in his life, he spent quite a bit of time as the main herd sire for Arnold Landry of Landry's Miniatures, and then went to Hunt House Farms until their dispersal. At the dispersal sale, he went to Robin's Nest Miniatures, Mark and Robin Miller, Placerville, California. He has sired 134 foals through 2003, with five being National Grand and Reserve Multi-Championships in AMHA. This stallions offspring are an asset to anybodys breeding program especially his daughters.

Gold Melody Boy

(Lightning Bug x Ginns Melody) “MELODY BOY” was known for passing his Arabian look and that flagging tail trot. This is the guy that started it all! Produced 34 registered offspring, 8 stallions and 26 mares. Of the 8 stallions, only 3 are alive or have produced any foals since 1985. The 3 who remain, trace offspring all over the country and form the foundation of many successful breeding programs. They are Wittmaacks Mickey Mouse, Johnstons Gold Bar and Johnstons Gold Boy. These stallions have done phenomenally well siring show horses. Gold Melody Boy daughters have been priceless treasures in breeding programs. Among the most familiar is Johnston's Vanilla. She has secured her place in history by producing Boone's Little Buckeroo.

Orion Light Van't Huttenest

(unknown x unknown)
“LIGHT” is one of the premier foundation sires that has helped to shape today’s American Miniature Horse. A proponent stallion that stamps his stunning good looks, conformation, attitude and color on his numerous offspring. He has produced more than 30 Nationals Champions including 7 Nationals Grand Champions, 3 Reserve National Grand Champions, 15 National Champions and 10 Reserve Nationals Champions.

Komokos Little King Supreme

(Komokos Little Husseler x Komokos Teenie Jeanie)
“SUPREME” is a consistent producer of champions. His small size and background are compliment by his refinement, beautiful tiny head and his athletic ability. Owners of King Supreme offspring prove this sire’s ability to produce generational excellence. Great horses such as Little Kings Napoleon, Little Kings Alfalfa Please, Little Kings Bay Banner, Little Kings Reflection, Little Kings Santana Supreme, Little Kings Super Puff, Little Kings Sparkle Supreme, just to name a few, are in turn, respected sires in their own right. Many have AMHA Top Ten and National titles with Multiple Supreme Halter honors.

Sierra Dawn Unos Monarch

(Sierra Dawn Uno De Mayo x Sunnyside Farms Butterfly)
"MONARCH" is owned by SCOTT CREEK FARM, with them being in the forefront in the show ring in halter and driving. His sire is none other than SIERRA DAWN UNO DE MAYO, and is an AMHA NATIONAL GRAND CHAMPION STALLION, plus NATIONAL CHAMPION in driving. MONARCH is an AMHA NATIONAL YEARLING FUTURITY CHAMPION, and in the same year, under different judges at the NATIONALS, was crowned AMHA NATIONAL CHAMPION YEARLING STALLION. He came back to the NATIONALS as a five year old, and captured the title of AMHA NATIONAL CHAMPION SENIOR STALLION 28" to 30". Monarch is a fairly young sire, but has all ready produced an AMHA RESERVE NATIONAL CHAMPION, SCOTT CREEK STANDING OVATION.

Rhoten's Little Dandy

Born in 1982, and standing 32", this was an outstanding son of Bond Dynamo, who proved himself in the showring as grand champion at halter many times and in performance classes, capturing the National Grand Championship in Single Pleasure Driving in 1987. As impressive as those wins were, he has proven himself as a sire even to a greater degree! His foals have won at least twenty-six National Championships, Reserve Championships, and National Grands.

PHOTO CREDITS:

http://minihorses.com
-Foaling photo