Recent content by Polkadots

You should be able to lay the width of your flat hand along his spine. If he is flat past that he is on the chubby side. If you teeter on his spine he is too thin. I hope you are driving him! If not YOU are going to be too thin to show! A round pen (or a square pen with rails across the corners...

Ground driving is when you harness your horse and then walk behind him using the lines as if you were in the cart. It is safer to start this way when you have a green horse because you take the noisy cart out of the equation. You can also use ground driving early in the season or to settle a hot...

A tip for halter use with donkeys: they are usually pretty sensitive about their ears. Use a halter that has a headstall that unbuckles amd can be placed behind the ears to be done up instead of sliding over the ears and clipping under the chin as a lot of horse halters do.

The people don't necessarily need to have Mini's to be helpful. Mini's are pretty much the same as any horse or pony and have the same requirements (in relation to their size) in handling, care and feed. Any knowledgable horse owner can help you out. The advantage of talking to a 'club' is that...

It all depends on whether you want the area for feed or exercise. If you turn 2 Mini's out to eat at free will 1/3 of an acre will become a dry lot in no time! But it will make a great area for them to stretch, run and roll.

Yes for sure keeping a Mini as a pet is fine - there are lots of people that just like to watch them out in the field and brushing a horse is definitely therapeutic for both the horse and human. You do need to be aware that horses are herd animals and are not really comfortable or happy...

I am going to be the downer here and suggest that if you don't have a clue about driving it would be best for both you and your horse to get some help with training him to drive. It can be incredibly dangerous and even fatal if you don't know anything at all. Harnesses come in several pieces and...

A lot of people assume a horse has been abused when it actually hasn't. If they both came from the same place and one is more skittish than the other it is quite likely just the less dominant horse. You are also likely a bit nervous around these strange horses and they are picking up on that -...