Could he be a dwarf?

[rubyviewminis]

Someone asked me if my Lil Gem was a dwarf. I was a little surprised, and asked why. This neighbor thought since he was so small, wide legged, wide eyed he could be. I started looking at him and decided to do an early spring head and neck clip. Well his little ears grew way too much lol, and he does have a big dish and domed forehead, wide set very large eyes. I re-read Kay's book on conformation, and thought oh no, he could be but I don't know that much about it. I looked at his teeth, his perfect bite went off over the last two months, and he had an underbite by 1/2 tooth! He is my little cutie pie and we call him our energizer bunny because he never stops playing with his ball

I might have made a mess of this post, tried to post the url images, one showed then none.

 

[Royal Crescent]

Can't see too much of him there. His head does not look dwarf-like to me.

I clicked on the image and it enlarged on a new page but then deleted them It has been harder for a lot of people to post pictures lately.

 

[horsehug]

I don't see a picture at all.

Susan O.

 

[Magic]

Is that him in your avatar? If so, he doesn't look at all dwarfy to me.

 

[rubyviewminis]

No that is Jewel in my avatar. Everytime I try to insert the images it tells me to choose a post, and then my internet bleeped out so I had to get back on.

Well I give up, I didn't have problems putting pics up before but it won't cooperate. They are there in the preview.

 

[Tremor]

Where do you have it uploaded at? We can post it for you.

 

[rubyviewminis]

Our ISP has been having problems, I just got back on the internet. Oh well clipped minis while I waited. I hope this link to photobucket album "Lil Gem" works. I tried to upload from everywhere and nothing worked. Thanks if anyone can do it for me.

http://s490.photobucket.com/albums/rr265/rubymtminis/Lil%20Gem/

 

[wingnut]

I'm certainly not an expert but I don't see a dwarf.

I see a sweet boy with a pretty head

 

[horsehug]

Sure does not look like a dwarf.

Susan O.

 

[rubyviewminis]

Me too! His name sure fits. Thanks so much, he may be little, but he is proportioned nicely, no deformities, although I was really concerned when his bite went off. I couldn't believe it. He will be 2 next month, so it surprised me his bite went off now. Any hope it goes back?

 

[Taylor Richelle]

No dwarf there

He is a cutie pie with a pretty head. He reminds me alot of my 2 year old stud.

 

[HGFarm]

When a bite goes off, the teeth develope hooks in the back on the back molars. This causes the bite to continue to go off worse and worse, as the hooks get bigger with wear and pull the bite off. I would have an equine dentist or someone that is KNOWLEDGABLE with this take a look and see if he has hooks that need to be knocked off. This will help his bite correct if that is what is going on.

 

[wwminis]

No dwarf in those pix! Just a sweet little boy!

Bill

 

[Carolyn R]

No dwarf, just a cutie pie in his winter jammies.

 

[manelyminis]

He looks very pretty to me!!!

I don't see anything at all that looks like a dwarf.

 

[Getitia]

I agree with Laurie, you need to have a professional dentist examine your horse's bite. The bite will not self adjust at this age, but will either stay the same or get worse.

As the others have mentioned, he is not a dwarf.

 

[Sue_C.]

He will be 2 next month, so it surprised me his bite went off now. Any hope it goes back?

Sorry to take advantage of your post, but felt this the perfect opportunity for both of us to get an answer.

This is only the second time I have heard of this...and the one other time is one of our own fillies. She was straight as a die when born, up till around the age of two, when she developed an under-bite. Does anyone have a reason for this to have happened?? Kills me that her bite went off, because otherwise she is one very nice mare. (BTW, it is only the lower front affected, her rear bite is still perfect.)

 

[rubyviewminis]

Thank you for the nice comments. Those pictures were just quick panic shots, I have some really nice ones of him. He is very well-bred and a pretty little guy. I wasn't offended by the neighbor's question, but thought maybe I was missing something if he showed minimal characteristic's. He is still 28.5 inches, hping for another 2 inches growth but looks like it won't happen.

Sue C thanks for the question. I never heard of this either before at this age in any breed. But to the insightful answers given, thank you. They are all visiting the vet Friday and he floated teeth on two other mini's awhile back for me and did a very good job. He takes his time to make sure he has addressed everything. He also told me last visit that he would invest in a miniature speculum if I planned on keeping minis and having regular floats for them. Most of the people here who have minis never see a vet unfortunately. I will tell him your thoughts on the reason his bite went off. so he can look. I am still hoping next years projects can include a raised stock of some kind for me and the vet. My husband is swamped with this years projects already.

Sue, maybe you should start a separate thread on this subject.

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Interesting thread. What interests me most is what your neighbor said - wide leg stance and wide width between the eyes. Those are two things I WANT in my minis!

Obviously any good trait can be to excess and then it's not a good trait anymore, but how many times have you seen a young mini and their chest is SO DARN NARROW???? I hate that. I want a balanced look without those legs touching! And a wide eye, especially tappering to a narrow muzzle, it what I want my horses to have. I think when the eyes are too closely set together there is very little one can do to make that into a pleasing head. I want to start with a wide set eye and go from there.

Maybe it's just me, but I like those traits.

You little guy is adorabel by the way.

 

[Eohippus]

I think he's a cutie and I don't see anything dwarfy about him!

As far as bite goes... I had the same problem with Kinson. His bite was perfect and then one day during training when we were working on showing teeth I looked and it was off. My vet was coming out to do shots in a couple of days so I had her look at his teeth. Sure enough he had hooks that had caused his bite to go off. It happened in a relatively short amount of time too because the vet had been out not long before that for dental work on the big horses and checked all the horses teeth. I took him in right away, got his teeth floated, and his bite returned to normal