Farming with your miniature horses/ponies

Here's a fun question for you. How many people have used their minis to help conduct farm chores? Small garden plot plowing? Hauling a cart to move items from one place to another? Basically ANYTHING that you might do with your mini of a utilitarian nature? Use a single mini/pony? Or multiples?Do you have specialized equipment? Where did you get it, or how did you rig it up yourself? Inquiring minds want to know!

I know that Shari has done quite a bit of this...hopefully she'll see this and chime in.

While we haven't done it yet, I plan to put Mingus' size, strength and good nature to work around our faux farm...hauling branches and such. I'd LOVE to get a mini forecart, but there's plenty to do in the meantime.

One upcoming project is rolling and replanting the lawn. The fall season has slipped away, so we may have to wait on this one, but when we do I think that we could harness him to the water-filled roller and help cook his own dinner, in a manner of speaking.

I'm going to buy an ice fishing sled for both winter snow fun AND summer work...hauling manure, yard debris, rocks, etc. I'll need to attach shafts, either regular pipe EE cart shafts or jerr-rigged PVC-style, to avoid having the cart before the horse. I've also toyed with using our EE cart as a forecart, allow that would be a long load and much less maneuverable.

Mingus is turning out to be a darned good farm horse -- he already supervises the chickens!

Some of you may have seen these pictures before but here they are again.

Our Shetlands bring in the hay crop every year.

This load is approximately 1 ton (40 bales at 50 pounds each).

The lawn mower is a Swisher. Hal mounted a seat on it - the controls

are on the deck at his feet for easy access.



We also attach a forecart to a ground driven manuer spreader when we clean the barn.

(Sorry, we don't have that picture available right now)



And of course, there is always as many sleigh rides in the Winter as we can get in!

Hal & Deb

Very cool!

Hal & Deb Bryant said:

Some of you may have seen these pictures before but here they are again.

Our Shetlands bring in the hay crop every year.

This load is approximately 1 ton (40 bales at 50 pounds each).

The lawn mower is a Swisher. Hal mounted a seat on it - the controls

are on the deck at his feet for easy access.

We also attach a forecart to a ground driven manuer spreader when we clean the barn.

(Sorry, we don't have that picture available right now)

And of course, there is always as many sleigh rides in the Winter as we can get in!

Hal & Deb

Click to expand...

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Hal & Deb, Where did you purchase your forecart?

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Great pictures love em..Shetlands earning there keep bringing home the bacon

That is soo cool!! Even little horses can work to earn their keep!!! Great pix!!

I love the pictures of working in the hay!

Good thing you don't have to take that load of hay down a hill, it would run those ponies over!

I have used a Mini gelding to haul manure in winter--I have a big plastic chore sled that I would fill & then haul out to the pasture to spread. Dusty would pull it out there for me then wait while I spread the manure. I made a little "chore" harness out of seat belt webbing--it worked well.

Taking out the feeds and moving manure is how I harness train!

They do hours of work before I actually drive them, and their first drive is usually back from taking the feeds out, over a drive they already know well. I have a two wheeled wheelbarrow, huge thing, that I have had shafts fitted to, and, although it is not elegant, it does the job!!



I squat in the back like an overgrown garden gnome!

Here's two more pictures. We use the minis and ponys both hitched to

the manuer spreader.



Here's a pic of our forecart. It works well but could use a little more

floor space for our feet.



Hal has made us two other forecarts (sorry, no pictures). They have the same tires,

expanded metal floor, and adjustable tractors seats. I call them our "Off Road Vehicles"

We take them to a nearby State Park and drive the equestrain trails - thru streams, woods,

cross fields, etc. To clean them - just turn on the hose! And they ride great.

Awesome! It gives me more motivation to learn to drive!!

Love the pics of the minis at work. That is way to cool!

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Deb,

If Hal ever decides to make some for sale, I think he'd have a good market right here on LB! I know I'd be interested.

That is so cool!! I want to learn to do that. My farrier farms with drafts. He doesn't even own a tractor. Does it all with the horses. I have a draft broke to drive and log but don't have the tack for him yet. It would be cool to get one of my minis doing the same! I have dreams of taking a sleigh out to the back 40 and cutting down our family Christmas tree. Oh maybe one year! lol.