Keeping minis with full size horse

[always learning]

I bought my mini after a knee injury (when I realized I was not going to be able to train the 40", 3yr old colt I'd bought as a weanling, who still needed a lot of ground-driving ). Molly was a yearling they'd bought from a sale, then decided to stay with larger horses. She had been pastured with the larger horses when I bought her. Jack (a 36" donkey gelding) had been pastured with my colt (until I sold the colt), they had gotten along fine, Danny being the Alpha. Well, it happened that Jack was tied when Molly spooked and jerked the lead-rope from my hand and ran up next to him. He was only 3" taller than her, but he grabbed her by the middle of her crest and lifted her front about a foot off the floor before I got there. Fortunately he didn"t break the skin, I guess he wanted to be the Alpha, or didn't want her near where he might get fed. Anyway, it just goes to show you that the unexpected happens.

 

[Carly Rae]

In my opinion it just depends on the horse.

In the next few years I plan on buying my own horse to ride (after I get lessons) I am not sure if I will keep mine all together. We had a 16hh mare called Sunshine with our minis for around 2 and a half years and they hated to be parted from each other our mare was very laid back (as long as you weren't riding her) she had lived with 2 sheep most her life anyway so its probably why she loved our minis company.

Here is all mine together when it was raining, our little mini foal Pickles used to run underneath our mare and everything, Sunshine used to protect them it was pretty cute

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Yes I have seen pictures like that before. Unfortunately I also have first hand experience of exactly what will happen in a pen and shed that small if the big horse spooks. Accidents can happen any time, but a mini in with a BH is an accident that can easily be avoided and is only waiting to happen. If you can cope with coming down and finding your mini with a burst diaphragm, stone cold dead on the floor or a broken leg so you must hold him/her to be PTS, OK, go ahead! Me, I am not about to ever take this sort of risk again. After all, you can probably get away with walking down the freeway, chances are the cars will do their best to avoid you, but it is not something anyone would advise you to do.......

 

[Minimor]

Anyone who has Minis and plans to get a big horse (or if you have a big horse and plan to get Minis) - should not ever plan in advance that they will keep the two different sizes together. In fact you should plan NOT to keep them together--because it does very much depend on the big horse.

I had a Morgan mare who lived with an American Shetland filly. The filly was a silver bay weanling who was not supposed to be in with the Morgan, but she ducked under a fence rail & got into the mare's corral and they just took to each other. I wasn't thrilled with them being together but we left them be for quite some time. I never saw that mare show any aggression toward the pony. One time a Mini mare got in with that same Morgan. The mini was failrly similar in color to the pony, and not all that much smaller. That Morgan HATED the Mini. She would have killed her if she was able to catch/corner her.

Had another Morgan mare that lived with a mini gelding for a winter. They got along great. The Morgan wasn't 100% sound and wasn't into running and bucking & acting silly. The mini gelding was a laid back fellow who didn't bother the mare. I wouldn't have put any other Mini in with her because some of them are very picky little fellows and if someone started picking at the mare & irritated her too much I did not trust her not to kick.

I had a 34" gelding get out with the Morgan geldings one time. The 16.1 hh gelding chose to chase the Mini--he could not catch him, which was probably for the best!

If you are planning to have the two sizes on your property, you should plan for separate paddocks and not count on having them all together in one happy herd. You might find that the big horses get along fine with the Minis, but you could just as easily find that they cannot live together at all. They do not even have to be together for a Mini to be hurt or killed by a big horse--there are people who have had a big horse reach over the fence and grab the Mini by the crest of its neck and pick it up off the ground--seriously injuring (killing in at least one case I know of) the mini.

If you do keep the horses all together, you must realize that it works only as long as it works--you may very well go out sometime to find that the Mini has been kicked and has a broken leg, or broken jaw, or perhaps a fractured skull. Yes, one Mini may very easily injure another Mini--there is always a risk with horses--but the Mini has a much better chance when the kick is delivered by another horse of its own size than if the kick comes from a full size horse. Personally I have refused a sale to someone who wanted a Mini to be kept with their big horses.

Also remember--just because it works for your neighbor or your Facebook friend or a forum acquaintence to keep their Minis in with big horses it in no way means that your Mini will be safe with your big horse. That is a very important thing to keep in mind.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Also remember--just because it works for your neighbor or your Facebook friend or a forum acquaintence to keep their Minis in with big horses it in no way means that your Mini will be safe with your big horse. That is a very important thing to keep in mind.

This a million times.

I'm very much in the boat of trying them cause i know how happy my herd had been with two big horses, and a friend has two minis and one horse, so it CAN work but it 100% depends on the horse. My old TB would NOT tolerate minis he would die lol