Ok now I have 4 shetlands!

[lyn_j]

Yesterday I was talking to a mini friend and slipped and called them ponies! lol really upset her but I reminded her that I have a Mini A sized pure shetland, two going to be 3 mini B shetlands.. I just have to laugh that there are still people out there that get so offended when you call a mini a pony. Wait till I hardship that little A stallion into AMHA alsso..... the registry that wants to deny the pony heritage!

Lyn

 

[spazkat]

Well congratulations on your new additons.

As to the dreaded "P" word.... well it's just foolish. PONY= horse under 14.2 hands high (DUH). You can call them whatever you want, but it just doesn't change what they ARE. Really though... I have yet to find a reasonable explaination of why they aren't ponies. Let's see... there's the "they don't have ANY pony blood- they are bred from full sized horses" (yup- wanna buy a bridge?) then there is "they look more like regular horses than ponies". No they don't. The average pony looks more horse-like than the avareage mini. (and yes there are some exceptions, but I said average not all) The registry calls them horses.... but then again, the purpose of said registry is to get people to BUY them, and register them (and send them money) and the different name makes for good marketing, even if it is not a technically accurate description.

You ought to have fun with the A thing... make a few waves at a minimum

 

[Serene Acres]

The first year I ever went too Mini Nationals I had my farm coat now mind you it says nothing about Ponies on it but I happened to be watching the Shetland Sweepstakes and I was really into it because they babies are always so cute and it's really a treat to see what non Shetland people think, well I was watching and this guy who I never caught his name but know him when I see him was saying all kinds of nasty things about the Shetlands and called me a darned Pony person and I just smiled and said thanks really it's time too face the facts where they came from~ You don't have too like it but accept the facts!

 

[jayne]

This "pony" stigma thing drives me crazy too. In my own little act of defiance, I now call ALL my horses "ponies": my A mini, my B mini, my one "real" pony, AND my 17:3 hand clydesdale! That'll show 'em! (Like anyone ever listens to me anyway!) And to take this a step further....why do they call it "Pony Club" anyway? Looks like lots of really tall ponies to me!! hehehe

Jayne

 

[Lewella]

LOL You know what really makes the whole situation even funnier? When someone is new to minis and gets offended by the "p" word then goes on to brag about having Rowdy bloodlines, or Gold Melody Boy or any other well known mini line that goes right back to a Shetland

We may be

but hopefully one day pony will no longer be considered a dirty word in some circles!

 

[Little Munchkin]

If I remember correctly, the only reason the name miniature horse was chosen instead of miniature pony, is because it sounded fancier!

I overheard a man at a mini show tell someone that if anyone dared called one of his a pony, he'd tell them to get off his property!

Don't you just hate to hear such silly comments?

 

[Getitia]

I'm with Lewella and Spazkat on this one.

My favorite silent chuckle is when visitors drop in and say I'd like to see your miniature horses, I'm not interested in a "pony" - the 4 letter word......so we walk into the pasture and they will almost always pick out the classics as the "miniature horses" and the smaller minis as Ponies. So I'll say no that is a registered classic and no that is a registered mini - or really cause a puzzled look on their faces, when I show them the ones which are registered both as a mini and a classic ! We then briefly go through the history and then the "ahs" happen. It is nice to be able to educate with the actual facts. We also share some of the old pony journel with photos from back in the 70s and the articles about the new breed of midget ponies that soon became Miniature Horses. Great marketing ploy - It sure worked!

 

[foxlanefarm]

Oh my, it is so nice to read a whole thread with intelligent comments!! I agree with you all.

The "miniature horse" designation was a brilliant marketing ploy, but the facts are that many of the best bloodlines in miniature horses are from documented Shetland blood, who knows about the undocumented ones (I think I have a good idea).

Anyway I love them all, whatever they want to call them!

 

[willowoodstables]

LOLOLOLOLOL..

Anyone here have BIG (I mean like real breed) horses? Can U tell me that your BIG horse has to be clipped 2-3 a year and looks like a Yak in the winter. That my friends is the TRUE distinction between a horse and a PONY. The Mini has way more pony blood than true horse blood. It cracks me up everytime 'cause I don't care and to really drive someone nuts call the so called horse "a hide" LOLOL That way you don't get in any poop over calling it a horse or pony. I could get really fussy and say my Hackneys are MINIATURE HACKNEY HORSES (cause they have the same stud book, no difference in the stud book) LOLOLOLOLOL

Kim

 

[Lewella]

LOL Getitia! Here's another story that goes right along with what you have observed at your farm

A good friend shows a string of about 30 Shetlands and Minis at our County Fair every year. She purposely mixes them together (Shetland in one stall, mini in the next, Shetland and mini together in same stall... etc) just to see which ones people think are the minis and which they think are the Shetlands. They are wrong probably 75% of the time! The minis get "oh what a cute little pony!" and the Shetlands get "Oh look at this pretty Miniature Horse!".

Kim, you hit the nail on the head with that one! I've never ever body clipped any of the many Arabs or part-Arabs I've owned over the years.

 

[runamuk]

I'm with the rest of you I have an entire herd of "pony people" or my "fat farmers" I tell people they are miniature horses and then just explain that the difference is the registry and height.

I recently have had two people inform me that they would never ever own one of those tiny little rank and nasty miniature horses

then I was informed by this all knowing soul that those little horses are all mean and ill mannered

then this same person said they'd take a shetland pony any day because they are so smart

boy was I confused.

The other person who said mini's are rank vile ill mannered was my farrier who was in love with them and singing a new tune when he got done with my "beasties" he was surprised that they had manners

 

[willowoodstables]

Lewella,

Yes, ALL hackneys registered in the Canadian or American Stud book have to be DNA'd. This comes from a couple incidents where some sneaky breeders "lied" about the true breeding of the stud (apperantly on paper the breeding wasn't "IN" so they lied and said the stud was "by" another set of parents). Then OOPPS someone caught on and thus DNA became mandatory for all ponies being registered as of 1990 something. I know this 'cause my mare was subject to gossip 'cause her full brother was one of those studs with the "different" parents LOL. Most people tried to tell me HER breeding was wrong, however she is DNA'd. They do it in Saddlebreds now too, and a real funny story is Phi Slama Jama (owned by Doc Raun who made an honest mistake) Apparently Phi's mom ran with a yearling stud the same time bred to another stud. Resulting foal registered by older stud. In comes DNA and HOLY COW that's not right??? Real dad is an awesome pleasure gelding LOL that has ONE registered foal..Phi Slama Jama <G> Just goes to show U how DNA can really straighten up a breeds blood lines, whether by honest mistakes or the bad guys. I worked for a Standardbred guy who raised 20-25 foals a year and all where registered after weaning. GEEZ..anybody care to guess how many bay yearlings with one white hind left ankle there are??LOL what a mess! We tried halters with mom/dad on yealing halter but of course they get ripped off...we tried starting as foals..Mabel had stud colt, bay, white hind by Cam Fella...and as I said before, U know HOW many stud colts in that field had one white hind and of course they ALL were bay...thank heavens for DNA.

Kim

 

[spazkat]

Phi Slama Jama (owned by Doc Raun who made an honest mistake) Apparently Phi's mom ran with a yearling stud the same time bred to another stud. Resulting foal registered by older stud. In comes DNA and HOLY COW that's not right??? Real dad is an awesome pleasure gelding LOL that has ONE registered foal..Phi Slama Jama

Ouch!! I bet they might have rethought the decision to geld on that one had they realized this earlier!!

What I really want to know is who thought up that name. It's a riot! (and definitely different!!)

 

[willowoodstables]

Spaz...

Doc thought that name up..isn't it cool!? Yep, real dad is Karawanka Chief ..I think he was even RWC Pleasure horse? What a shame as Phi was WC weanling, yearling and Junior Harness horse and has many WC colts on the ground!

Kim

 

[jlfm]

Great marketing ploy - It sure worked!

Yes, sometimes to extreme! I took my Shetland stallion to an Expo and one lady argued with me that he was NOT a Shetland he was a mini horse. She knew for sure because she has a "friend" who raises them.

It didn't matter how many times I said, "he is a Shetland" she would just roll her eyes and present another arguement that he WAS a mini horse.

Oh, how I wished a hundred times over that I had his SPSBS passport with me that day!

I so badly wanted to let her know that if her "friend" was raising miniature horses that in any way resembled my fella (other than height), this "friend" was not very successfull--I didn't say a word!

Tammy

 

[ivytoro]

Hi everyone!!

First of all I have to say: I'm a newbie, no flames please on anything I say...

Second: I read your discussion about minis and ponies and why you think it is stupid that people get upset when their minis are called ponies.

Can U tell me that your BIG horse has to be clipped 2-3 a year and looks like a Yak in the winter. That my friends is the TRUE distinction between a horse and a PONY

Another well-known mini breeder told me that, too. She wants to breed high quality minis, so she looks for those who DON'T look that fuzzy in winter - so there ARE obviously also minis who don't have to be clipped that often.

So I just wanted to add to all what you posted (which is certainly right and your own experience) that there are of course minis who look like ponies, behave like ponies etc. But - in my opinion - there are also a lot who DESERVE the phrase MINIATURE HORSE.

Anyway, I also think it is stupid when people get upset because you call their minis ponies. They all descend from the shetland ponies, which actually nobody can deny.

JMHO

Julia

 

[kaykay]

everyone that comes to my farm calls Patches "the little pinto arab" LOL. Their jaws drop when i tell them shes a modern shetland. They always say thats not what they looked like when i was a kid

 

[spazkat]

that there are of course minis who look like ponies, behave like ponies etc. But - in my opinion - there are also a lot who DESERVE the phrase MINIATURE HORSE.

I don't know.... I think you'd almoast need to reverse that. Since most ponies (except the draft types) are more like big horses in their proportionality than minis I would take the "look like ponies" comment as a compliment.

This reminds me of way back when (before I even knew anyone that owned a mini) I was up at the NYS breeders horse show with a saddlebred farm I worked for. The minis also show there that same week. So after looking at the ones that were stabled near us I noticed a woman leading these 2 VERY proportionate minis around and went to speak with her. We were talking for a while when I finally broke down and asked what the difference was.... as in why hers were shaped like "real" horses and some of the others I has seen looked like pot bellied pigs disguised as horses

(well... I didn't know ANYTHING about them at the time LOL) At any rate this poor lady laughed so hard I was afraid she was going to give herself an aneurism- but once she stopped she explained about different bloodlines and what was the breed standard and dwarfism and all that. Boy, was I embarassed!!!