new to minis...

[circlesinthesand]

...but not to horses.

Hi! I didn't see a specific place for an intro, so figured I'd put it here at the top

I bought my first mini this past weekend when my dad went to buy his first mini. I was undecided until I saw them! OMG! love at first site. They're so cute!

So we came home with two in the trailer! lol. I'm a lifetime horse owner (I honestly can't remember a single time in my life when a horse wasn't a part of my life) but this is a completely new experience for me. I had a few ponies as a child and I was the kid that rode all the new/young ponies to start them. But this has been a very very long time.

Since then I've been involved with every aspect of the horse world in some form or another. English & Western riding as well as a bit of driving. We're phasing out the draft horses and I'm down to 3 QH's so obviously it was time for a mini!

So I'm new to minis and learning a bit as I go. So far I've been treating them as I would any other horse and it's working well. We have them mostly halter broke and started sacking them out. I've done a good bit of rubbing and loving up on them, getting them used to being touched.

I have a few questions though...Is it too late in the year to body clip? Normally I never body clip our horses but they're almost all slick at the moment. The minis are shedding some...but not enough. Poor things are probably miserable. Our guys are yearlings...will they start shedding out normally at some point? or do they remain fuzz balls?

Secondly, why are so many mini harnesses sold without the breeching strap? would there be any need for a collar? we have collars for the drafts but they're usually pulling heavy loads. Is a mini even capable of pulling something heavy enough to need a collar or is it because they're not as strong and do need the extra help of a collar. My tendency would be to go with a collar but they don't look as popular. My intentions are to try CDE one day in the very far future. Should I just go ahead and invest in what I need for that or should I just wait and decide later?

I'm sure I'll come up with some more questions that are mini specific, general horse questions I'm ok to answer myself, just those specifics that are a bit different I might need some clarification on

TIA,

Jen

 

[Jill]

Welcome to LB and the world of minis

My husband and I also had riding horses prior to getting into minis about 14 years ago, and minis quickly became our favorite breed.

Where are you from? I live in virginia, and we could clip minis now but would probably have to blanket over some nights as the nights can be chilly still.

We'd love to see pictures of your minis!!!

 

[wingnut]

I'm afraid I don't think I can help you very much on the driving questions. In the 3 years I've been "in" the miniature horse world, I've never seen a collar used as part of their harness. As far as the breeching, I believe I remember from the clinics I've attended it mentioned that you would use a breeching strap if you're going to be doing hills in your driving as the breeching strap keeps the cart from riding up on the horse's hindquarters. If you're doing strictly arena driving, a breeching strap isn't necessary but may be a "standard" piece of equipment that comes with a harness "set". Again, no expert so I may not have this correct.

Where are you located? I live in Maryland and my horses are big 'ol fuzz balls and shedding like crazy. If I wasn't preparing for our club's show season (which starts on May 6th) I wouldn't even contemplate doing anything more than lots of grooming with a shedding blade until mid-May. The first year we had our first two girls, we simply groomed them consistently until they shedded out completely on their own. Now? I really hate waiting until June for that to happen, so I like clipping to get them looking nice as soon as its warm enough.

I will be bathing and clipping the two horses I plan to show next month this coming weekend because I like to give at least a couple of weeks of "regrowth" time so I can see what adjustments need to be made and take care of any "cleanup" the week or so before. The first clip is typically a bit "rough" thanks to my lack of experience. These two will be blanketed if/when the temps dip after I've clipped them.

 

[Eagle]

Hello and welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of minis. The first thing to warn you is to look out cos they are like potato chips, you can't have just one

they are adorable and totally addictive.Second thing but a more serious one is do NOT give moxidectin wormer i.e: Quest. unless you know the exact weight of your mini it can be very dangerous as there is very little margin for over dosing. Third thing is minis don't handle bute well so if needed banamine is better. The diet is also slightly different to bigger horses, youngsters need a higher protein diet and lots of us prefer to feed alfalfa. As for clipping it depends on where you are and how cold it is at night. I usually clip mine around now as I am allergic to horses

so them shedding for weeks is a nightmare but I have rugs ready in case the nights get chilly.

Once again welcome, I am sure you will enjoy it here. Please share some photos of your horse

 

[Riverrose28]

Hello, and welcome from Southern Maryland. It is really too cold in my part of the country to clip now, unless I put them in the indoor as it is warmer in there. I did clip four mares last week as I'm getting ready to take them to a show. Where are you located? If it's south you should be ok clipping now, I usually wait until the low temp.'s at night are at least 50 degrees, otherwise you will need to keep them in a warm area at night or blanket. Have fun, and as Renee said they are addictive so use caution!

 

[Sandee]

Welcome to minis and yes, they are addicting! Don't know where you are located but we are in the north (Wisconsin) so I won't be clipping until about a week or two before the first show the end of May. They don't tend to shed "slick" like the bigger horses. They will shed but it will take more time than most people have and it seems they are never in time for a show.

The breeching is as descibed above only needed for hillls OR if you are showing in an arena that has been chewed up by the big horses (deep footing). At most A and R shows the arena will be flat and packed so no breeching is needed and hardly anyone uses it.

Collars are for specific classes like the draft class (I think it's called). Minis that are in good working shape can pull a well balanced cart with two adults in it without a collar.

 

[circlesinthesand]

I'm not too worried about the cold....I've been in shorts since Jan and have been running around barefoot for the last 2 months. All of my big horses are slick or nearly slick. Plus the minis are staying stalled at night, especially since they're still a little hard to catch.

ok, so I guess the question is will clipping them now, after they start to shed, hurt the coat growing in? I'd really like to see their true color come out. All that fuzz makes it hard to tell if one is bay, brown, black or even just a dark buckskin. Plus It will take some time to get the used to clippers I'm sure. They take things easily but it's really only the 3rd day haltering them today so I guess I still have time to decide?

ok so I think I'll skip the collar but still get the breeching, I can always take it off if it's not necessary. That narrows down my choices some now for the choice between beta and leather

 

[dannigirl]

Some of my minis stay the same color when clipped and other change from year to year. You can clip anytime and the color will not be affected. As for harness type, I have both beta and leather and would get leather again--every time. Don't like the beta. You will get as many opinions on this as there are people on this board--that is just mine.

Welcome to the wonderful world of minis.

 

[targetsmom]

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of minis! Many of us came from the "big horse" world and most of what you learned there will work just fine with minis. (Just don't use Bute or Quest on minis). And the young ones often need to be clipped in the spring but the older ones will usually shed out eventually.There is a sub-forum on here all about driving, and you might want to check that out. I have not actually done a CDE, although it might look like it from my avatar photo. We do ADS Pleasure Shows and Dressage and Cones, but I am not brave enough to do a marathon. The nice thing about it is that I don't have to - there are a lot of options driving minis!!

Yes, we love photos here!!!

 

[Jill]

I just wanted to check in again and pass on two really helpful LB links!

Here is a link to the "BEST OF" forum, where some important topics over the years may be found:

http://www.miniaturehorsetalk.com/index.php?showforum=8

And then there are the LB Mini Information Pages -- lots of good material there, too:

http://www.lilbeginnings.com/links/info/

 

[wingnut]

Clipping definitely won't "hurt" their coat. It is so much fun to see what's underneath, especially if you have one whose coat is hiding something! Having 4 pintos and 2 solid colors, I kinda have a good idea of what I'm going to find, but I always get excited to clip out my silver bay (in avatar) because she's completely gray undernearth. The bay color comes back after a time, but I still love to see a little gray in my pasture even if for only a short time! Plus, I just love how great they look all "slick".

 

[circlesinthesand]

Thanks, Sooo, if they do change color how long til they get back to a 'normal' color?

Jill, I have kinda looked at the links, especially the clipping links. I honestly have never contemplated body clipping before now, well I did occasionally for a few early shows but then thought better of it and rode my horse slightly hairy instead, lol. We'll do legs and face for shows but I can usually get my big horses slicked up pretty nice without having to go to the trouble so that's a new thing for me. Not REALLY looking forward to it, but we do what we gotta do for the comfort of the animals So I think as soon as these guys are comfortable enough with the clippers we'll hack all the yak off of them

Targetsmom, I'm still not sure I am brave enough for that yet either but it's a goal It's as close as I'm ever going to get to Eventing. I would love to do that too, I love the idea of Eventing, galloping cross country etc. but I have discovered I'm a big chicken when it comes to certain cross country jumps! I just can't get over the down drops. Up is fine, down...eh, just not for me. I figure we won't be jumping off any 'cliffs' no matter how small in a buggy Plus I just can't get over the risk involved to my horse with solid jumps. BUT, I've yet to see a CDE even out of all the videos online that made me cringe like those do so...we'll see.

 

[sfmini]

With the minis, we body clip before every show, and usually clip a few times during the Nationals and World shows.

As for color coming back it really depends on the horse we have a bay stallion who retains his rich color and never loses it, and others who get that mousy washed out color for a few days that are his daughters. Some have better color clipped very close like our blue roan, others look better a few days later.