Mini horse advice

[DianaLynn]

Hi, I just bought a 6 month old miniature filly! What do most people feed their mini's? She's not in a pasture and doesn't have access to grass. I give her 1 cups of sweet feed 2x per day with hay. How often to de-worm? Her little mane and tail are extremely dry, very thick but very dry. What products to use to soften it up? She does have her winter coat and she's only 6 months old, maybe the dry mane and tail is normal at this point? I use a very soft brush with a very soft touch but she doesn't seem to like being brushed! How to get her in the grooming routine? Last question. She traveled from Texas to Arizona, very long trip for her. I've only had her 5 days. She did have a halter on when she arrived and she did lead fairly well going to the barn. The halter was taken off then. I haven't tried to put the halter back on, any advice on getting the halter back on for grooming or whatever? Thank you so much!

 

[Sandee]

The halter thing - lots of attention and PATIENCE. You'll probably have to "trap" her with your arm to get it back on but first try to coax her with a bit of hay or sweet feed to come to you. Hold the halter where she can see it and very VERY slowly bring it toward her; talking to her calmly the whole time. After the halter is on, even if you have to trap her to get it on, reward her. Lots of praise, maybe a walk out to grass.

The horses at my place eventually get the connection that "hey, I have to have a halter on to get outside of this stall."

Since she's just a baby, she'll need something that probably has more protein than the sweet feed. I'm sure you'll get lots of advise on what to feed.

 

[DianaLynn]

Hi Sandee! Thank you so much for the advise on the halter! I will be very patient and praise her. I just don't want to scare her and make it where she doesn't want to come around me!

Best wishes,

Diana

 

[Minimor]

Our weanlings generally get much more grain than what you are giving to yours--2 litres each twice a day--we feed either plain oats or a half and half mix of plain oats and 14% pellets. Our two weanlings this year don't like the pellets so they are getting straight oats. They get free choice hay; usually a grass/alfalfa mix, but the two colts this year seem to prefer plain grass hay to the alfalfa mix we have.

We deworm once a month up until they are a full year old, then they go to our regular deworming cycle which is supposed to be every 2 months but sometimes ends up being every 3 months.

Is your filly friendly? Can you walk up to her & pet her, or slip your arm around her neck? If so, likely you won't have much trouble getting the halter back on her. Sometimes, though, they can be real friendly until the see that you have a halter & then they want no part of you!

If you keep doing the grooming with your soft brush she will soon get used to it. They can be very "ticklish" about being brushed when they aren't used to it, but they soon get to like it if you don't use too much force with a brush that is too stiff bristled. Mine get rubbed with my hands to start with, and I scratch all their itchy spots with my fingers & then when I actually brush them they don't mind it. I have one of the small Grooma brushes--it's made of real soft rubber & does a great job of grooming, removing dust & spring hair (I even use it as my scrub brush for bathing) and the horses really seem to like that brush.

 

[DianaLynn]

Thank you for all the advice. I'll keep brushing her with a soft brush and light touch. I didn't even think about her being ticklish!! I'll have to think about oats as well. She will not eat pellets.

 

[wingnut]

Congratulations and welcome to the fabulous world of miniature horses!

Are you new to horses altogether or just miniatures?

Do you know what she was being fed at her breeder's home? For now, I'd stick with that. She's gone through a lot of change already and you want to give her time to settle in at your place before throwing more changes her way. There are tons and tons of posts on this board about feeding (1/3 are probably ones I started!). Spend time reading through old posts here and you'll get a great range of information on ALL sorts of issues regarding keeping these babes of ours happy and healthy.

We do require one thing on these boards though: PICTURES! LOL! There's a specific board for pictures. Be sure to read the Picture Posting Rules post that is "stuck" to the top of that message board.

Little steps, done repeatedly, over time is the best way to go in all things from feeding to grooming to halter training. Remember that she's a horse, not a dog. She thinks like a horse and needs to be treated as if she's 1200lbs. What you wouldn't let a 1200lb animinal do shouldn't be allowed by a 100lb animal. They're so darn adorable at that age that it's hard not to!

Feeding? Again, there are 100 different ideas on the subject! What I learned that I feel is important is that these little ones need protein. A 14 or 16% protein feed is what I fed my weaninglings/yearlings. I did use a sweet feed (Purina's Omolene 300) but others prefer to stay far away from sweet feeds. You say she won't eat pellets. Like any young animal, they often don't like to eat what they're not used to, so you have to make that change a gradual one if pellets are where you want to go.

There's a big concern about over feeding miniatures. It is somewhat easy to do, but you have to be careful not to go to the opposite extreme either. Your filly is in her growing phase and needs the right/proper balance of nutrition so she can grow well. I fed my weanlings a 1/2 *pound* of the Omolene 2x a day. Based on what I've read here, I changed feeding regimen to use pounds vs. scoops/cups. I love my feed measure cup that has premarked lines for both sweet and pellet feed weights. I've tested it using both types on a scale and it was very accurate.

I'll stop now and let some of the real experts on the board give their say

 

[DianaLynn]

Hi,

As a child growing up I rode horses all the time. It's been many years!! I'm brand new to mini's! I just want to make certain I'm taking the very best care of her! I agree, she has gone through alot of change so I'm taking everything nice and slow. She's just so cute and sweet & I want her to remain happy & healthy! I'll check into a feed measure cup! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my questions.

Congratulations and welcome to the fabulous world of miniature horses!

Are you new to horses altogether or just miniatures?

Do you know what she was being fed at her breeder's home? For now, I'd stick with that. She's gone through a lot of change already and you want to give her time to settle in at your place before throwing more changes her way. There are tons and tons of posts on this board about feeding (1/3 are probably ones I started!). Spend time reading through old posts here and you'll get a great range of information on ALL sorts of issues regarding keeping these babes of ours happy and healthy.

We do require one thing on these boards though: PICTURES! LOL! There's a specific board for pictures. Be sure to read the Picture Posting Rules post that is "stuck" to the top of that message board.

Little steps, done repeatedly, over time is the best way to go in all things from feeding to grooming to halter training. Remember that she's a horse, not a dog. She thinks like a horse and needs to be treated as if she's 1200lbs. What you wouldn't let a 1200lb animinal do shouldn't be allowed by a 100lb animal. They're so darn adorable at that age that it's hard not to!

Feeding? Again, there are 100 different ideas on the subject! What I learned that I feel is important is that these little ones need protein. A 14 or 16% protein feed is what I fed my weaninglings/yearlings. I did use a sweet feed (Purina's Omolene 300) but others prefer to stay far away from sweet feeds. You say she won't eat pellets. Like any young animal, they often don't like to eat what they're not used to, so you have to make that change a gradual one if pellets are where you want to go.

There's a big concern about over feeding miniatures. It is somewhat easy to do, but you have to be careful not to go to the opposite extreme either. Your filly is in her growing phase and needs the right/proper balance of nutrition so she can grow well. I fed my weanlings a 1/2 *pound* of the Omolene 2x a day. Based on what I've read here, I changed feeding regimen to use pounds vs. scoops/cups. I love my feed measure cup that has premarked lines for both sweet and pellet feed weights. I've tested it using both types on a scale and it was very accurate.

I'll stop now and let some of the real experts on the board give their say