New to minis

[Karen in NC]

Hi I am new here but have been reading for a while to learn all I can before I purchased my minis ( I have regular size horses, too). Well, as of Saturday I am the very happy owner of 4! I have 2 yearlings (mares) and 1 2 year old colt, and one 5 year old mare. all of them very sweet and I have been in Heaven the past 2 days. As you can imagine I have a ton of questions! And from what I have read here I will be in excellent hands. I will than you in advance for helping me.

My first concern is how tro handle the stud colt. He is vcery sweet until the girls are around. He has a stall in the barn, he is on one side the girls ar on the other. He is very hard to handle when they are in their stalls. Should I make a stall for him outside? Someone told me to put Vicks in his nose and that would lessen the smells, does that work? ANy advice is welcomed to help me handle him. Thanks, and have a great day! By the way I should be at work , but...............LOL

 

[New2Minis]

Hi and Welcome to the Mini world. I am also new (around 3 months now) to Mini's but I too have full size horses including a coming 3 year old stallion (full size). I have a coming 2 year old Mini stallion also and had to come on the forum and ask for advice on getting him to stop biting! So you will get some great advice on here. I treat my Mini stallion the same way I treat my full size stallion. I stall them all in the same barn and they are stalled right next to mares. They ARE NOT allowed to act studly unless they are getting ready to breed (which neither one of them has covered a mare yet). They are very well behaved in there stalls even with 3 mares and 2 fillies around them. In my opinion when you isolate them from being around mares, such as building him a stall outside, it will make him worse. He obviously has either been kept by himself or allowed to act studly around the mares. You will have to work with him and teach him to behave. Hope this helps.................

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Do not isolate him, you will make him nuts!!!

Give him as much exposure as possible- get him right in the middle of the mares if possible- being opposite where he cannot touch noses or really socialise is not ideal- try him at the end of the row with the 5 year old next to him to start with and then get him in the middle.

Funnily enough a mature stallion who has done it all is often far better than a young colt who has done nothing, probably they have less to prove!!!

If you are turning them out next to one another make sure you have an electric fence in there as well, this will teach him some respect for fences and prevent him from getting over amorous.

You will get fireworks to start with, colts like to shout and strut their stuff- even my old 28 year old does like to remind the ladies he is still open for business!!!

If you are having trouble with one spare a thought for those of us with four (and more).

Oh and welcome to the mad house- just in time for the foal roll call of 2007, good timing.

Bet you end up buying one- they become irresistible after a while!!

I have been doing this for nearly 30 years now and each year is still a thrill.

 

[Mini Brook Farm]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Miniature Horses! You've gotten some great advise here. Feel free to state specific behavior issues for more suggestions.

Carol

Mini Brook Farm

 

[angelridge]

Hi Karen,

I live in Shelby, NC. What town are you in? Welcome to the forum. I agree not to isolate your colt.

Are any of your mares bred? I put my colts in with pregnant mares and they usually do a good job of teaching them manners. If he is unruly in-hand and you plan to keep him a stallion, I would teach him ground manners and "your space, my space" before I used him to cover mares.

Welcome to the forum

Angie

 

[shortymisty]

Yep, when my colt was old enough to go in with the troops his behavior changed and he was definitely more manageable. All the advice here is great and welcome to the forum and hello to a North Carolinian woooo hoooo we need more here :bgrin

 

[Bluerocket]

Welcome to the Forum!! We are in Lexington KY area - not too terribly far away from NC.

We house our 2 stallions in stalls across the barn from the mares. Our barn is 40x48 and the stalls are 6x8 - there is an aisle that is 28 foot wide dividing them.

This works quite well for us.

JJay

 

[HGFarm]

Welcome and enjoy your Minis!! I agree with Rabbits- I have been breeding, big or small, for over 30 years and I have not lost the absolute thrill of it either!! I keep waiting for the excitement to calm down, telling myself 'it's just another foaling season' but that doesnt work!

 

[~Karen~]

Hi Karen, I am Karen from Arkansas :saludando: , great to have you here with us. I am pretty new to the forum myself. You'll find a world full of information and a great group of people here as well! WELCOME! :bgrin

~Karen

 

[Soggy Bottom Ranch]

Welcome from Wisconsin, :aktion033: it's nice to have you here!

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

Hi Karen :saludando: WELCOME from the northwoods of Wisconsin. I'm going to agree with rabbitsfizz too,

: every year of breeding bring so many new expectations, never a dull monent on this forum at that time. I have been breeding horses for 30 plus years too, and still find it thrilling when the new babies hit the ground. Corinne

 

[Suzie]

I agree not to isolate your colt. Are any of your mares bred?

Hi Karen!

I agree 100% with Angie! Put him in with some bred mares if possible. That works wonders, especially if none are his dam. They will teach manners of being in a herd.

Welcome to the wonderful world of minis. :saludando:

Lots of NC people here. We are in Marion (near Asheville). Always someone you can learn on this forum. I have been reading it since the first day we bought our first mini. :aktion033: And you met the best people in the world!

 

[thegrandzapper]

:488: :488: welcome from the central valley in california, everyone on the forum has great advice to give. velma :saludando: :saludando:

 

[MyBarakah]

:saludando: Hi! And welcome! Lots of COOL - Awsome people here!!!

And NO vicks does NOT work! I was told to try that...... never did because I knew it did not work but at a show somone else I knew did...... and it did NOT work......

My stallion also REALLY likes the girls.......... ALLOT! And he has a pen with a stall....... and he's content where he can see them but there's a empty pen in between him and the girls. And if I do have him right next to them....... I have a hot wire that runs along the pen so he doesn't get any bad ideas like trying climb it or try to breed one of my open mares when I don't want her bred...... And where I'm going to show my stallion...... I do NOT want him running with my mares...... I've tried that and decided I do NOT have a big enough area for that.......