Hello from Lady Lavender in Houston

[shadelady]

Hi. You want to look up Nancy Grizzaffi in Columbus. She runs loads of shows and activities for mini people, including several shows in Katy. We met her when we came out and stayed at Ger Mels training in Columbus a few years ago. There are a lot of mini people quite close to you. I see you are already going to Little Americas. Freedom Hills Farm is not too far from you either. I am sure you will soon make a lot of new friends. I know we did !

 

[Barnmother]

If someone hasn't said it already, mini's are like potato chips you can't have just one (I have 6 now)! Welcome from Thompson Falls, MT.

 

[targetsmom]

Welcome to the wonderful world of minis from CT! Hope you can find another mini to keep Lavender company.

We took two of our minis (and our 4-H Club) to a local nursing home for the first time last July and it was a great experience for all. The nursing home had an outdoor courtyard to use for this visit which we checked out ahead of time and appreciated for our first visit. Also, they were used to llama visits so knew a bit of what to expect. We picked two of our minis that we thought would do great in that environment and they did. We were not expecting a train to go by right across the street though, so I guess you need to be ready for anything. One had no reaction to the train and the other just lifted her head to listen.

Photos are on our website in the 4-H area, where you can also find lots more information about minis. http://www.ontargetminiatures.com/little-hooves-bickfords-2012-gallery.html

As you can see, we ended up taking the minis indoors anyway!! We have also offered to take a couple of minis to Newtown, CT and are waiting to hear back from them again.

 

[little lady]

Hello from Southern Illinois!

You have come to a wonderful place to find information and if you can not find it just ask. Your Lavendar is beautiful.

 

[wildoak]

Welcome and yes, lots of mini farms in your general area. What kind of training are you after, just general handling & manners or something more specific? I will pm you some names.. If you make the drive to Austin, you are welcome to come visit us as well - we are about 30 minutes northeast of Austin near Georgetown.

Jan

 

[snowcapped]

Hello and welcome to the forum! I am also in Houston, about 10 minutes north of downtown!

 

[vickie gee]

Welcome from a fellow Texan. We are north of Houston, about 150 miles up Hwy 59. Your filly is a cutie pie. Have fun spoiling her.

 

[Allure Ranch]

Welcome.... I'm in San Antonio, TX myself. Love seeing photos of your beloved miniature....

 

[Marty]

Welcome! Horses need another of their own species as they are a herd animal.

Chances Miniature Horse Rescue has some very nice companion horses for adoption. We also can assist on shipping. Let me know if I can be of any service to you!

 

[Lady Lavender]

To SugaryCharm,

I'm having that very problem! I adore...well pretty much every horse I see but I have a real soft spot for dappled greys and blue roans and of course, there is a gorgeous blue roan mare just come available. I would love to have her but she is much taller than Lavender and I don't want my little girl to get hurt. There is also this stallion (would be a shame to geld him , he is so handsome) but we can't have a stallion either. I do think I have found a lovely little mare to be a friend for Lavender and we are going to see her next week. She is a few inches shorter than Lavender and a year older but I think that will be close enough to make a good match. I have only four acres so unfortunately, I can't go completely horse crazy... until we buy the thirty acres behind us.

shhhh... don't tell my husband.

I have found two trailers that I like on trailerworld and now have only to get a hitch put on my jeep.

To Scooter,

Ok, good, I'm doing pretty much the same with my set up. I have two mats set right up front in her stall so she can stand on them to eat and the back part of the stall has the shavings/straw. I stopped locking her in her stall at night and leave the gate open so she can come and go as she pleases and I've noticed that I no longer have anything to clean in the morning. Does Scooter gather up straw to make a fluffier bed? I see Lavender do this in the evenings. How often do you completely clean out his stall? Lavender's stall was built for three miniature donkeys to share so she has the equivalent of a very posh apartment in New York. It took five bags of compressed shavings to cover the floor and nearly an entire bale of straw. I'm going to weep if you tell me once a week or every other day.

Field of Dreams,

Thank you for mentioning that, I didn't think to ask if the owner would mind bringing a horse to me. I know you can hire a transport company but I was worried they might move a mini with a large horse. I've seen those livestock carriers with a poor little goat or sheep shoved in with several head of cattle, I don't think it ends well for the little guy in situations like that.

Shadelady,

I have heard many wonderful things about Nancy and she is at the top of my list to try and contact tomorrow.. or actually umm.. today. 1:15 in the morning! Is that really the time?... Oh goodness, time for bed!

Sweetest of dreams to those who are sleeping and brightest of days to those who are waking.

with kindest regards,

Katrina and Lady Lavender

 

[Scooter]

To Scooter,

Ok, good, I'm doing pretty much the same with my set up. I have two mats set right up front in her stall so she can stand on them to eat and the back part of the stall has the shavings/straw. I stopped locking her in her stall at night and leave the gate open so she can come and go as she pleases and I've noticed that I no longer have anything to clean in the morning. Does Scooter gather up straw to make a fluffier bed? I see Lavender do this in the evenings. How often do you completely clean out his stall? Lavender's stall was built for three miniature donkeys to share so she has the equivalent of a very posh apartment in New York. It took five bags of compressed shavings to cover the floor and nearly an entire bale of straw. I'm going to weep if you tell me once a week or every other day.

We havn't used straw so far so I havn't noticed that

I don't really "completely" clean out his stall - apart from once or twice so far when it was a lovely day (rare at this time of year in Ireland!) but some days I end up clearing out about half of his shavings - that's becoming more rare now as he wees more outside - the poo is easier to pick out of the shavings (gracious, I thought I had finished with these types of conversations when my kids got out of nappies!). Mostly I just need to remove/replace about 1/4 of his shavings every day. Sounds like your stall is much bigger than the one Scooter is in at the moment which is just 10'x 6'. I wonder if you could cover a smaller portion of your stall with shavings?

 

[Lady Lavender]

To Barnmother, Targetsmom, Little Lady, Wild Oak, Snowcapped, Vickie Gee, Allure Ranch, Marty,

Hello! Thank you very much for the wonderful welcome! So happy to see so many from Texas. Do minis have play dates?

To Barnmother:

mini's are like potato chips you can't have just one

The first day I joined this forum, I read that and I turned to look at my wonderful husband and I thought to myself, "that poor poor man, he's going to lose the last few hairs on his head when he finds out we're getting more"

Also, WOW Thompson Falls! You lucky lucky person! Beautiful country up there!

To Targetsmom,

Did you have to have any special permits or need certification to take the horses? Looks like everyone had a fabulous time! I'm glad they were ok with the train. I would like to hear about your trip to Newtown when you go, I hope you will keep us posted. I have been trying to get in touch with several of the equine therapy organizations but haven't had much luck. I want to know if I need a permit or any kind of paperwork to take Lavender to a place like Starbucks or the mall. Not that I want to take her there necessarily but I would like to take her out in public.

I found out a few days ago that the hospital in Wisconsin my mother was staying in recently is where Equine therapy all began. Here I am sitting upstairs looking at horses on my I Pad and there was probably one downstairs.

To Little Lady,

Thank you, I was very very lucky to have come across her. I am definitely asking questions when I need to and learning what I can from books and the internet, though nothing beats first hand experience. I have found everyone here so kind, patient and willing to give of their time and knowledge. I am very happy to be here.

To Wild Oak,

We love Austin and try to get up there as much as we can! We almost bought a home in Chapell Hill so we could be between Houston and Austin but the commute would have been a bit much. A shame because we spend a great deal of time there in the spring driving around seeing all the wildflowers in bloom.

The training is for me, I need to learn how to handle my horse. I need to learn things like- what is the correct terminology to use, what kinds of exercises (how do I make her do those exercises) would be most beneficial for her and how often she should be worked, how do I correct my horse for misbehaving...etc. Lavender, Im sure has "how to be a horse" down pretty well. I'm an obedience instructor, I speak Alpha dog not Boss Mare. In my world, I give a command once and I expect it to be obeyed, if not, my husband has dishes for the whole week not just that day because when I asked him to pick up his plate and carry it into the kitchen, I do not want to hear "five more minutes, I'm in the middle of this Halo mission"

To Snowcapped

Wonderful! I'm happy to have so many mini people close by. One huge question and a little inquiry to ask. Do you have a vet you really like here in town? And about how much on average do you pay for a Farrier visit?

To Vicki Gee,

Hello to another fellow Texan! I may be up in your neck of the woods next week.

To Allure Ranch and Kimberle,

Thank you. I feel like I know you in some small way, so often I have visited your website and seen your beautiful horses. I don't get up to San Antonio to visit as much as I would like but I do drive through twice a year and every time I go through a migration of butterflies. They are EVERYWHERE! Is that common there? if so, send some our way.

To Marty,

Hi, I would very much like to hear about the horses you have available.

Thank you again to everyone for making me feel so welcome and such a part of this group.

With kindest regards,

Katrina and Lady Lavender

 

[Lady Lavender]

Hi Scooter,

It measures 16'x22' and I wanted the shavings to be nice and thick but then started thinking about having to replace the shavings all the time. Its one of those realities you don't quite think of until you are faced with it.

I don't think we can ever truly be done with "those" kinds of conversations as long as people and animals do what they doo. Well, I'm off to bed. Have a wonderful day! Stay warm and give Scooter a big hug from me. He is such a handsome boy!

Katrina

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Ok, good, I'm doing pretty much the same with my set up. I have two mats set right up front in her stall so she can stand on them to eat and the back part of the stall has the shavings/straw. I stopped locking her in her stall at night and leave the gate open so she can come and go as she pleases and I've noticed that I no longer have anything to clean in the morning. Does Scooter gather up straw to make a fluffier bed? I see Lavender do this in the evenings. How often do you completely clean out his stall? Lavender's stall was built for three miniature donkeys to share so she has the equivalent of a very posh apartment in New York. It took five bags of compressed shavings to cover the floor and nearly an entire bale of straw. I'm going to weep if you tell me once a week or every other day.

I never completely need to strip my stalls. They are big, I just make sure I get the poopies out and the wet spots. I bedded them new before Halloween and the shavings still look new. Granted, I have added to them, but they aren't soiled or anything. My guys are only in a half a day. I don't use straw on them, I feel that's messy and IMHO, straw smells after it's been wet on.

 

[Foxhaven]

I tried to stick to my "must-have" criteria while I was looking for a mini (mare, papered, pinto, gentle to handle/easy to catch) but the pinto part fell by the wayside when I met Charm...she has no white at all except a few white hairs by her navel!

Also, not too long ago someone else on here (forgive me, I forget whom it was) went to look at a mare to buy and fell in love with a stallion instead! It's funny how sometimes you instantly connect with a horse that you would not have otherwise considered.

LOL, that would be me. I had a set of criteria stored in my left brain (the logical, male half) and in the process of looking at horses discovered the right side of my brain had a not altogether different set of criteria, just a different priority order. And I would never have discovered how important this was unless I was married to the wonderful lady I am married to. I was searching for a mare and another for my wife due to 1) having Thoroughbred mares as buddies when I was growing up in KY, 2) having a not great experience with a very noncooperative Appaloosa gelding growing up, and 3) my wife has a dream of foaling at least once (we breed Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers for conformation and place them carefully, and she wants to experience at least some horse breeding in this life. Bucket list.).

What I discovered was, the connection I felt with a horse, and their responsiveness, pretty much trumped all the others. I was looking for a bay or chestnut (silver bay would have been phenomenal) mare, and ended up with a Pinto stallion who was far more genteel in behavior than the mare, and conformationally superior to boot! From the beginning he was responsive and interested, spirited but biddable and willing. My wife ended up with his son, a smallish yearling, cut from the same cloth (a dark bay who we will geld). Turns out both will be better choices for what we want to do (driving and therapy, and maybe halter or some obstacle work) and are quite trainable. Regards the dream of foaling, there are still several ways to do that and the breeder we worked with is absolutely TOP NOTCH.

I like the stallion a LOT... it would be great to produce a nice daughter. We will see.

The point being, though... don't rule out a nice gelding for a buddy. And my sense is, your girl really is just trying to sort the herd relationship with you, don't necessarily jump to her contesting your leadership so much as just trying to figure out where she fits. Not necessarily a control game in other words; it's a hairs breadth of a different perspective but will lead to a different 'story' in your head of what is happening. But yeah, you do need to be boss hoss. She will feel secure in that.

It actually sounds like your instincts are taking you in the right direction in how to handle her.

 

[Foxhaven]

Oh, another thought.

We will use stall mats over clean dirt floors, with pine shavings over that.

One thing to be mindful of with cedar is, some individuals (animals or human) can have a toxic reaction to it. Same thing that affects the bugs really. Other individuals are fine.

 

[Jill]

We have similar taste in colors and horse size! Welcome here from Virginia!!!

 

[Lady Lavender]

To Field of Dreams, Foxhaven, Jill,

Good morning!

To Field of Dreams

That is good to know, being a new to everything horse person, I get most of my information from books which, of course, tell you the worst case scenario if you don't remove every shaving and dig down four feet to replace the soil with a 50/50 mix of clay and sand every six months. I don't know what kind of horse that person has but I bet it is as neurotic as that chapter made me feel.

To Foxhaven,

It is funny how some experiences from our childhood can influence us even into our adult years. I adore all types and colors of horses except white ones. Every year, for my birthday my mother would take me horseback riding. When I was 8, I was given to ride a white horse, it couldn't have been more than 15 hands and seemed docile enough. We were in a round pen when something spooked the horse and it reared up, I fell off and a moment later the horse fell on top of me. I broke some bones dislocated a hip and have never been able to go near a white horse again. The horse was ok btw. The following year I rode a bay.

I spent months online looking for my dream horse, a dark grey dappled Appaloosa type mini with a black mane and tail. Male female didn't matter but this was my dream horse. Then, I opened an ad for a mini near me just to look and there she was, the most adorable miniature wooly mammoth named Precious. I wasn't even back in Texas yet but I knew she was coming home to live with me.

There is a stallion I like but I have no interest in breeding and I would feel bad gelding this handsome boy. I have been looking at several geldings as well. The last two days Lavender has been as sweet as ever she was and it has been suggested to me that

perhaps her behavior might have been horsey pms.

With what cleaner do you disinfect your mats?

To Jill,

Thank you for the welcome! Your horses are beautiful! I especially like the dark grey dapple with the luscious cream colored tail on the main page of your website.

 

[JWC sr.]

Welcome, you will enjoy the forum. There are a lot of really good folks on here that are always willing to help. We are just south of Houston and have been doing this for over 25 years and will be glad to help in any way we can. Take and good luck!!!

 

[Foxhaven]

To Foxhaven,

It is funny how some experiences from our childhood can influence us even into our adult years. I adore all types and colors of horses except white ones. Every year, for my birthday my mother would take me horseback riding. When I was 8, I was given to ride a white horse, it couldn't have been more than 15 hands and seemed docile enough. We were in a round pen when something spooked the horse and it reared up, I fell off and a moment later the horse fell on top of me. I broke some bones dislocated a hip and have never been able to go near a white horse again. The horse was ok btw. The following year I rode a bay.

I spent months online looking for my dream horse, a dark grey dappled Appaloosa type mini with a black mane and tail. Male female didn't matter but this was my dream horse. Then, I opened an ad for a mini near me just to look and there she was, the most adorable miniature wooly mammoth named Precious. I wasn't even back in Texas yet but I knew she was coming home to live with me.

There is a stallion I like but I have no interest in breeding and I would feel bad gelding this handsome boy. I have been looking at several geldings as well. The last two days Lavender has been as sweet as ever she was and it has been suggested to me that

perhaps her behavior might have been horsey pms.

With what cleaner do you disinfect your mats?

I do believe I would have developed an aversion to white horses too!

Personally, I don't like white faces but that is just an appearance thing. Dark gray Appaloosa with back mane and tail would be fetching indeed. I like contrasty mane and tail and it looks like you got that. Plus a sweet attitude. It could be that your reaction to your horse was exactly what she needed and she has settled now. Follow your gut.

Lime works on stalls and is cheap for soaked urine especially. Clorox water (dunno, mebbe 20:1 or so) would also work on the mats if it smells. You probably won't need that, I doubt you will experience it. Most important to just shake the stall and keep fresh shavings in, and minis are not as demanding as full size horses for sure.

FWIW, I do not want to geld Legend (because of his color genetics and bloodline and our plans) but... as the breeder stressed to me, the life of a gelding is, on average, better than the life of a stallion. Even better than the life of a mare!! And there are only so many bloodlines represented, he probably is already well represented. If you like the horse... you like the horse.