circlesinthesand
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- Apr 9, 2012
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This would be me. Here's my two cents, FWIW, and this might be a little scattered because I'm working this morning and trying to type at the same timePersonally, I am not a fan of the "arabian" style miniatures.
I like a nice, fine, conformed animal but I would rather have a performance bred mini with some legs than a Arabian style mini with a neck that resembles a serpents. (My opinion)
I don't see the use of an arabian style miniatures. Arabians (halter) are becoming animals for the only use of prancing around and setting up. No riding or whatever. We as miniature horse enthusiasts try daily to fight the question, "What can you do with a miniature?" Why would we want to base our ponies off a horse that has no use other than looking "pretty"?
If I ever get into breeding I don't want to breed such animals. I want miniatures that can jump and pull a cart; not stand their and lift its head it for me in the ring.
I believe in performance over looks. The form should match the function. Trying to stuff a horse that only looks pretty into a job it can't do never works out well. Things fall apart somewhere.
I'm a stock horse gal, Having been immersed in performance horses for years (since I was a very young child,) Arabian style doesn't mean much to me in terms of performance as when I look at an Arab in the halter sense all I see is the prancy type that I used to see at 4H shows and still see in those over done pictures of a stretched out body with a wild eyed look. Horses that kids couldn't handle or if they were sane enough to handle, they became lunatics in the ring when someone was popping whips at them to get them to stretch their neck. Don't get me wrong I LIKE a clean thin neck and a small well shaped face as good as any other. They're beautiful creatures, elegant, refined, but for a riding horse halter type Arabians have never done it for me. The Arabians I do like tend to be very stocky in terms of Arabians, horses that can hold up under pressure and hold their riders without problems. Still lighter boned than most nice QH's but not at all this thin boned flighty creatures the halter people prefer. For the record I'm not wild about halter QH's either. My animals are all performance animals, there's not a drop of halter anywhere in them.... They'd be laughed at in most halter competitions BUT their form matches their function!! and they do their function very well.
Sooooo, when I picked out my mini after years of window shopping, I went with the one that looked more like my horses because this is what I know can perform. The face is often just a bonus. You don't ride (or drive) the head! But I do like a cute face so I looked for what I like, paying paticular attention to the eye because I like a kind soft eye. In fact my little guy has the same look in his eye as my calmer gelding. If I can get a good pic of little guy's face I'll post to compare, in fact I have a great shot of my QH at about the same age that I'll try to match. Their faces are very similar. But if you look at my QH, he might have a better looking head than some Arabians, it's short, slightly dishy (not overly so) and just really attractive and cute.
Are either of them truly Arabian type because their face is dishy? no not really. My QH certainly is not, he is ALL QH. But neither is the little guy a stock horse type at all. I will admit my little guy has more of a flat rump than my QH, and in QH we WANT long sloping hips, this is where the burst of powerful speed in the 1/4 mile and all the power to turn on a calf etc. comes from but I recognize that I'll probably never find that in a mini. And do I really want or need it? They'll be pulling horses, So I guess what I'm saying, in my limited experience and window shopping, I have yet to see a mini fit a 'stock horse' profile either. They all look slightly arab-y to me, OR like a fat little pony, lol. I admit I am more attracted to what ya'll are calling the 'arabian' types in that they're lighter and look like they can move well but I don't want it so light that it can't pull. I want a cart horse, I want it to be able to trot on and hold some endurance (like a lighter boned arabian,) but at the same time it needs to have the strength and power to pull (like a draft.) In drafts those bigger necks help with pulling but they also go slow and plod along without alot of endurance, this is not what I really want in a mini either. So a balance is made so that form matches function...'type' doesn't matter one little bit to me. FUNCTION does! A good horse is a good horse.