Does My Mini Look Like She Could Be Show Quality?

[kay56649]

I had a mini foal born this spring and is a buckeroo great great granddaughter! From the pictures I have posted, does she look like she could be show quality? I am new to the mini horse showing world, so I would love some input! I'm just wondering if she could be a halter mini, a driving mini, or a jumping mini! If you have an idea or anything, please post it!

 

[mshasta88]

I'm not an expert but I don't think there is enough pictures (front, back, body clipped) to really tell if she is halter quality. Her legs seem straight in the picture on right.



IMO, any young horse like this has potential to be a good driving or jumping horse.

 

[kay56649]

Any young horse in general or with her trotting form? I will post more pics but does her conformation look ok?

 

[minimomNC]

From these pictures, no to a halter horse. She looks to have a weak rear end which looks to give her a low tail set. She has a straight shoulder, short neck and a small eye. She also looks like she toes out in the back. As mshasta88 said, could be the pictures but you asked. Now could she be a driving horse or a jumping horse, only two and half to three years will tell you that. But again with these pictures I am going to also say no to driving, she looks to have a straight shoulder which would not let her extend like she would have to do to be a top driving horse. Jumping you just never know until you start training.

Now having said all of this, clip your filly, set her up on a flat level surface, back away from her face and take pictures on her level with her facing forward. Take them from both sides, front and back. Then post and ask the same question again. These pictures are not fair to you or your horse when you ask for opinions, as you can tell, mine wasn't very good for a filly that could possibly be very nice.

 

[Tremor]

From these pictures, no to a halter horse. She looks to have a weak rear end which looks to give her a low tail set. She has a straight shoulder, short neck and a small eye. She also looks like she toes out in the back. As mshasta88 said, could be the pictures but you asked. Now could she be a driving horse or a jumping horse, only two and half to three years will tell you that. But again with these pictures I am going to also say no to driving, she looks to have a straight shoulder which would not let her extend like she would have to do to be a top driving horse. Jumping you just never know until you start training.

Now having said all of this, clip your filly, set her up on a flat level surface, back away from her face and take pictures on her level with her facing forward. Take them from both sides, front and back. Then post and ask the same question again. These pictures are not fair to you or your horse when you ask for opinions, as you can tell, mine wasn't very good for a filly that could possibly be very nice.

Really super good advice right here!

Kay, I highly suggest you take her to small local shows. Show her in halter and showmanship as often as possible. They love a job. I highly suggest teaching her how to load, desensitize her, and all around enjoy her. With my youngsters I try make everything enjoyable and a game; that was my goal when it came to loading the trailer. I wanted them to be able to load themselves because they liked to; all of them do so.

Introduce her to new things; this is the best time to do so. You wouldn't imagine how easy it was for me to train my yearling and two year olds how to load the trailer.

My girl isn't perfect though; gosh can she be a crabby little filly! (My poor geldings are surrounded by mares!)

The key thing when dealing with youngsters is to not make any mistakes, make it a game (I don't mean to goof around, but rather to make sure they enjoy it), and to take everything slow.

EDIT: If forgot my main point! lol. While some people may say that she isn't a halter horse it doesn't mean that you can't show her as one. I have a filly and a gelding with about every conformational fault but boy do they sure enjoy their halter classes! Same goes for showmanship. They may not make Nationals or Worlds, but there's no reason to show for FUN at local shows. That's what I do and you'd be surprised how little pressure there is!

 

[kay56649]

She is 4 months now and she loads, clips, bathes, lunges, leads, showmanship, halter, jumps 1ft jumps, cross ties, and ties. These pictures were taken about 3 months ago and he has changed so much so I will take some different pics and post them!

thank you for your advice though!! I will post better ones then see what you think!!

 

[Ashley]

Please DO NOT be jumping her!

Or working her on a line, both will destroy any potential she may have.

 

[kay56649]

She is just jumping herself. Lol I just put that in there to say she is a natural jumper. I haven't been training her to jump or anything

 

[kay56649]

I think I'm going to continue to lunge for the weanling lunge line class and she loves it. Why would it destroy any potential she has?

 

[dutchhollow]

dont know much about conformation, but I would take it easy on jumping her. She is cute, I have one that looks a lot like her (avatar)

 

[muffntuf]

What weaninling longe line class - I have never heard of a weanling longe line class? Just curious!

 

[Ashley]

You can easily damage a babies neck and legs. I never work a horse until they are at least 2 and then its done in a round pen not a line.

 

[minimomNC]

At 4 months old, mine only need to lead and tie and they don't always do that well. I wouldn't do anything with a 4 month old that would put any stress on those joints. As for jumping, even if she is doing it herself, you must have the 1 ft jump there for her, thats 12 inches, the fences at any AMHR show for hunter are between 12 and 24 inches. And you can't show a horse in hunter or jumper until they are 3 year olds. So take out whatever she is jumping and don't let her do that anymore. As for lunging, why? there has never been lunge line classes for weanlings in any miniature horse event that I have ever heard of and the only time I have seen lunge line classes were in big horse shows for yearlings only. Again, stop before she does have problems. Just let her be a baby and enjoy her. She doesn't need to know showmanship at 4 months. She doesn't need to jump at 4 months, thats like asking a 5 year old to play high school football. Don't worry about the show horse stuff now, unless she is going to a show very soon, there is plenty of time for her to grow up.

 

[Tremor]

I haven't lunged any of my babies and they're yearlings and two year olds.

Jumping is out of the question until they're three.

Joints are not something that I want to mess up.

 

[targetsmom]

Good advice here.. be patient. And just because you CAN show her in a horse show class doesn't mean you SHOULD. Pinto allows 2 year olds to show in driving and jumping classes but most people (including me) think that is too young for a mini to be entering those classes.

To answer your question about "... show quality?" - that question always bothers me because I never hear that asked about a big horse, only a mini. If you are watching the AMHR National show right now (I highly recommend it) you will see horses with less than ideal conformation doing VERY well in the youth performance classes. So there will likely be some type of class that will suit your and your filly when she is older. Who knows, with lots of work you might even be in the winners circle at Nationals some year! And even if your filly has ideal conformation now, I know of too many minis that did very well as weanlings but were either never shown again or never did that well again. They can change a lot as they grow.

 

[billiethekid40]

You read my mind Target, in my opinion almost any horse that is sound can find its own niche in the show ring be it as a youth show horse, a showmanship horse, a 4-H horse or one who competes in obstacle or driving. The majority of horse shows I have been to in my life are for amusement, not big money or prizes and people enjoy showing in the classes every year whether they win or not. But short of a mare and foal class a 4 month old has a long way to go before you need to worry about training for show, and even a mare and foal class the foal just needs to lead (somewhat haha).

As for lunging I agree with the others, running in circles is bad for forming joints as it puts un-natural stress on them. For the most part I feel forced exercise of any type should be avoided with youngsters, with the exception of light hand walking when learning to lead.

 

[kay56649]

She jumps her exercise ball. Lol. She lunges in a roundpen, and she is doing very well in showmanship. There is a weanling lunge line class here at our open shows

She will be shown in 4h when she is 2 years old in halter

 

[shalakominiatureshowhorses]

I jump my 2 1/2 yr old 28in and 33in geldings at 6in-1ft, rarely, but they either jump to high or they dont make it at all, so we are doing ground work again in the round pen. I actually hate lunging my horses. They dont like it and neither do i, unless i need to when we are at a show or something. targetsmom has a good point- quote- "And even if your filly has ideal conformation now, I know of too many minis that did very well as weanlings but were either never shown again or never did that well again. They can change a lot as they grow." My mini Jazz used to be awesome in halter, now he is too fat to have ideal conformation, so i just go youth halter with him just to have fun!

 

[kay56649]

Ha ha yeah I will wait to see her full potential but I see these ads that say will be an awesome driving and halter horse or a jumping horse and I was just wondering how they would know. So I asked about her!! Lol

 

[shorthorsemom]

Hi, were she my baby, I would hold off on the lunging. You don't want to get her stifles messed up going in circles while she is a baby. I would work on manners, leading, standing and spook training and take her for nice walks. As far as driving depends on what you want to do. My one boy has done CDE with his previous owner and I do trail driving. For me he will be my little trail buddy, I will probably never compete with him, he simply doesn't have the conformation for it but for me, I don't care, I love him just the way he is..

Enjoy your baby, let her grow, but my advice is to really insist on the manners and there will be so much you can do with her. I did what I called "baby lunging" with a mini for training, but it never lasted more than a few minutes. When your baby gets some maturity if you have the training foundation built, then you will be able to choose what she will be best at. By the way...they can look rather awkward as yearlings and change so much by 2 or 3 years old, a horse you thought wouldn't do for driving, may instead be just right. I had a boy that didn't get much of a butt until he was 3 and he went from a weak rear to more of a quarter horse type gorgeous bubble butt. I would have never thought he would have matured so nicely. You never know. Your baby is adorable by the way...