Odd question from a visitor

[Minimor]

Some people stopped in to see the foals tonight. They are big horse people, and haven't seen a lot of Minis. The wife was petting 3 of the foals, & she asked "why do yours look so normal?" Umm, what??? I guess the last Mini she saw was, well, from her description if it wasn't an actual dwarf, it had dwarf characteristics. She described the forehead, eyes & nostrils of a dwarf. She said the body & legs didn't look too bad, but the head was quite deformed.

The thing is, this horse wasn't just a pet, it was being promoted as a good example of the breed.

I've just never before been asked "why do your Minis look so normal"!!

 

[Miniv]

LOL! What did you say???

I've been very upfront with people and when they've mentioned the "tiny 24 inch minis" etc...etc.... I've asked them if the conformation was anything like ours......Then I explain that unfortunately the media has been portraying miniature horse dwarfs as being an example of the typical mini -- and it is false.

Next step? Show them either the AMHA or AMHR magazines! (I also explain that this is what our minis look like when all decked out to show.) Talk about some mouths dropping open...... Sometimes teaching people new things is a wonderful thing.

MA

 

[Mercysmom]

I had something similar happen to a friend of mine after she purchased a Mercy colt for her nursery school - vets in her area were commenting how nice his legs were and that he had no joint/hoof problems. Apparently they saw a "lot" of dwarf horses in their practice.

Education of the public is key - one of our dwarf horses, Connie, has gone with Mercy on service visits and her condition is noted along with the complications that can happen with dwarf horses but she does not feel she is challenged - she socializes very well with her nursing home residents and she knows she is beautiful.

Our other dwarf Bodie is cute, too... his latest stunt is terrorizing my big horse Finisterre when I ride (not these days thanks to more knee surgery). You can see the grass wave but you can't see him and he jumps out... if he could say "Boo" I am sure he would do it! Finnie jumps out of her skin at first but then she seems to say, "Oh, it is only YOU!" Bodie runs along the fence line when Finnie and I trot and canter by... he tosses his head and prances... being the big "bad" boy he thinks he is! I never would have known how fast he could run with his malformed joints but he can haul *** when he wants to!

The fastest I ever saw him move was this summer. I had left everyone out for the evening as it was very hot. Of course it started to thunder around midnight and I ran outside to get everyone in. I ran smack into a dirt pile (they were redoing our leach fields in the backyard). OK, covered in mud, I tried to find my garden clogs which were buried in the dirt pile... I ran back to the house and got a flashlight. The rain started and was coming down hard. The mud was ankle deep but I retrieved my clogs and headed to the barn.

The lightning was intense... for the first time in my life I saw "beaded" lightning - looks like a string of pearls and it crawled across the sky. I got everyone in but Bodie was hiding in his pen. I went to grab him and he ran past me, out of the pen. In the lightning flashes, I saw him running like a bat out of heck to get to the barn. It was very funny to watch - but I must have been a funnier sight coated in mud, though! Since I live on a hill that sustains lightning strikes periodically, I was moving pretty fast myself. The next AM my imprint of my body was in that dirt pile - from my nose down. Friends still give me a "ration" about this!

Denise

Silversong Farm

 

[REO]

Sorry, OT but, Denise I smiled all the way through reading about your precious ones! Thank you for that!

Talk about characters!

 

[mountain_waif]

.....

 

[Triggy&Blue&Daisy Too]

When I was looking for minis many years ago that was one of my thoughts too when I'd come across a nice one. Thankfully now that is less and less the case but I still shake my head when I see someone who is supposed to be knowledgeable about the breed touting the correctness of one of their tiny minis who has obivious dwarf characteristics.

 

[Sandy S.]

WELL, I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT I HAVE HAD IT COME BACK TO ME ON SOMEONE ASKING ABOUT MINIS BECAUSE THEY HAD SEEN OUR LITTLE DWARF. WE TAKE HER ON OUTINGS TO SCHOOLS, NURSING HOMES AND WHEN WE DO OUR COWBOY REENACTMENTS (LIKE TRAIN ROBBERIES AND PARADES, ETC) I DON'T ALWAYS GET TO TALK TO EVERYONE BUT I ALWAYS EXPLAIN THAT SHE IS A MINIATURE BUT SHE IS ALSO A DWARF AND HER MEDICAL PROBLEMS THAT GO ALONG WITH IT. MOST LISTEN, BUT YOU WOULD BE SUPRISED AT THE ONES THAT STILL AFTER TELLING THEM ABOUT HER BEING A DWARF AND WHAT THAT MEANS THAT STILL THINKS SHE IS SO CUTE AND THEY WANT ONE. WE JUST SWITCHED FARRIERS, NOT BY CHOICE, AND HE TELLS HIS CLIENTS ABOUT OUR LITTLE SPECIAL GIRL, WHICH I HAD TO INFORM HIM ALSO ABOUT A DWARF, THIS LAST TIME BACK HE HAD A COUPLE OF PEOPLE THAT WANTED TO BUY HER, AND OF COURSE I TOLD HIM SHE WAS NOT FOR SALE AT ANY PRICE AND THAT TO ME DWARFS SHOULD NEVER BE SOLD AND THEY SHOULD ONLY GO TO SPECIAL HOMES IF SOMEONE IS NOT ABLE TO GIVE THE SPECIAL CARE THEY NEED.

I GET SO ANGRY WHEN I GO TO AN AMISH SALE THAT IS HELD IN MILROY, IN AND THEY HAVE A DWARF THAT GOES OVER THE THREE ZERO MARK, BECAUSE I KNOW THEY PROBABLY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE BUYING. THEY ARE SO CROWED MOST OF THE TIME YOU CANNOT EVEN SEE WHO IS BIDDING. I TRY TO LET PEOPLE KNOW AROUND ME THAT THIS MINI IS A DWARF IF THEY DO NOT KNOW. AND A LOT OF TIME THEY WILL ANNOUNCE THAT IF A MARE SHE IS BRED. AAARRRRGGGG.

 

[Jill]

Actually, MOST of the people who've come to my house or otherwise looked at my horses have made similar remarks. They will say things like "yours look just like little horses, all the other ones I've seen were short and fat..." That kind of thing, and what can we expect when most of what is seen on TV or in the newspapers are dwarves? And I get these comments from non-horse people and horse people alike.