pygmy horses???

[Charlene]

just watched a segment on t.v. of guiness record holding animals. this young woman had "Love Bug", what she claimed to be a "pygmy horse". she says he/she (can't remember gender) is 30" tall and that makes it a pygmy rather than a miniature.

cute little thing, sorrel/white pinto, tail dragged the ground. oh and, the record was for the highest jump by a "pygmy horse", 24".

i've googled everything i can think of and the only thing i can come up with are either pygmy goats or pygmy seahorses.

anybody?

 

[TangoMango]

I saw this nonsense too. You would thing Guinness book of all people would be sure it is even a REAL breed before awarding it a record. And she only jumped 24".. I have an AHMA 30 stud that can jump that without even trying. What a joke! I wonder if there is a way to contact animal planet and guinness book to tell them?

And I never knew B sized minis could get to 48". The girl was full of crap. OH!

 

[Leeana]

The jump isnt even that high either OH!. My 28.5'' stallion can clear that on a lame (kidding) day

I do think she honestly made it up just to set a record, of course there is the chance that she was just uneducated or someone else who was uneducated told her that story but i mean, there is entenet and there is no reason she could not have done her research or the record books for that matter. BTW She didnt break a record, she SET the record (i wonder why???).

Im waiting for someone to set a record with a "Mamoth Miniature Horse", you know those minis that are 36"-38" OH!.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Yeah, I saw that too. I only caught the tail end of the program when they were reviewing the "records" but rolled my eyes at the jump being 24". WhatEVER! Isn't that the minimum height for jumps in AMHR jumper classes?

I'm glad they didn't have her going over anything higher though considering the deep sand it looked like they had her landing in. She probably would have sprained something.

Leia

 

[Sixstardanes]

Looking around this is the "info" that I was able to dig up.

"Pygmy Horse – Sweetwater's, the world's largest miniature horse breeder has developed a breed on horses that are significantly smaller than the American miniature horse. :

from http://www.mini-horse.org/mini_horse_breeds.html

and

"Pygmy Horses are the result of a selective breeding project whose goal was to produce a smaller, smarter horse suitable for Dwarves and small Humans. A Pygmy Horse is 75% the size of a standard Riding Horse. Other than size and brainpower, the Pygmy Horse is identical to a normal Riding Horse"

from http://www.gaianar.com/RFP/Beasts%20of%20B...gmy%20Horse.htm

*this link looks like it make to specs from some time of roll play game or something.*

It does sound very much like what we sometimes are asked about in Great Danes... if we have King Danes.

"King Danes" are supposably much bigger than regular Great Danes

OH!

 

[minimomNC]

I saw that too, all I could think of was that poor girl just made a fool of herself on national TV. Both by her knowledge of her "breed" and the fact that the horse only jumped 24".

 

[Riverdance]

I saw that too and wondered if anyone would post about it. I was so disgusted with the Discovery Channela that I e-mailed them about their misinformation and to tell them to get their facts straight.

This girl said Miniature horses were 34" and anything over that up to 48" was a B size Miniature horse. That Pygmy horses were under 34". SAY WHAT? Should not the Discovery Channel have checked the facts before they had someone come on the show and make a fool of themselves. :stupid

That poor girl was taken to the cleaners if she thinks that was a Pygmy horse. (unless it was her farm that calls them that for selling purposes). It is just a sales gimmick for selling horses. I guess she could have a World record for a jumping Pygmy since there is no such thing.

I think we should all bombard the Discovery Channel with e-mails so that they can correct his misinformation. I am sure that there is somone out there right now looking to own a "Pygmy" horse. OH!

If I get a response from the Discovery Channel I will let you all know.

 

[NoddalottaFarm]

WOO HOO!!! I am so glad I am *not* the only person who saw that! My husband (only a horse person for a few months) brought me into the room right after she said Pygmy horse. He'd never heard of them, though he'd never heard of Minis until I told him about them. Did you notice she said a Miniature Horse is 32" and above? So, by what she said, anything UNDER 32" is a pygmy. I too emailed the channel AND I emailed Guiness! Ugh!

 

[Katiean]

This girl said Miniature horses were 34" and anything over that up to 48" was a B size Miniature horse. That Pygmy horses were under 34".

I guess I have pygmy horses

since mine are ALL under 34"

Sorry I can't contain my self.

 

[Riverdance]

This girl said Miniature horses were 34" and anything over that up to 48" was a B size Miniature horse. That Pygmy horses were under 34".

I guess I have pygmy horses

since mine are ALL under 34"

Sorry I can't contain my self.

I guess I do too since all of mine are under 34". I wonder if she paid extra to own a "Pigmy"

 

[Bunnylady]

Gee, Betsy's 33". Does that make her a "Pygmy Mule?"

 

[tnovak]

Guess I also have Pygmies.......my App mare is 30" and my palomino 26"

 

[TangoMango]

Ack, does anyone have the emails for animal planet and guinness? I looked and looked,but coudnt find an appropriate contact email, I want to make sure and send it to the right place.

Thanks

 

[Mock2Farms]

My questions is... Was this a registered Pygmy horse?! OH!

Some people. You almost have to feel bad!

*editted for spelling*

 

[ruffian]

Miniatures were called "Pygmy" back in the '70's. I had some old Pony Journals that showed "Pygmy" horses in some of it's advertising. I think (I could be wrong) that the term "Miniature" came into being when the AMHA started.

But that still doesn't account for ignorance, both on the woman's part AND on Discovery channel. But if they don't know better, that's their fact. I'd been in minis about 5 years, had about 12, when I heard of a guy 50 miles north of me that had some. Found out by his advertisement -- LARGEST BREEDER OF MINIATURE HORSES IN MICHIGAN. So I gave him a call. He had 5. Friend of mine had 70, another friend had 13-15. So I asked why he was advertising as "Largest Breeder"? He said he'd never heard of them being in Michigan. Ummmm - apparently didn't know about the show we had just 50 miles from him, that pulled in over 100 horses? Again, ignorance, and didn't check his facts.

 

[Mercysmom]

I saw that too and wondered if anyone would post about it. I was so disgusted with the Discovery Channela that I e-mailed them about their misinformation and to tell them to get their facts straight.

This girl said Miniature horses were 34" and anything over that up to 48" was a B size Miniature horse. That Pygmy horses were under 34". SAY WHAT? Should not the Discovery Channel have checked the facts before they had someone come on the show and make a fool of themselves. :stupid

I think we should all bombard the Discovery Channel with e-mails so that they can correct his misinformation. I am sure that there is somone out there right now looking to own a "Pygmy" horse. OH!

If I get a response from the Discovery Channel I will let you all know.

Sadly, don't hold your breath on a positive reply from the Discovery Channel... I wrote and called them and emailed them to complain about "factual discrepancies" in an episode of "That's My Baby." I never heard of a 36" AMHA horse, chasing a heavily pregnant mare with a dog to "speed things up," running around the farmyard in bare feet, riding a heavily pregnant mare (they said it was "safe to ride a pregnant mare" but if anyone tried to put a saddle on me at the end of my pregnancy (especially with Ben who was 11.14 lbs), I think I would have rolled over on him/her and crushed them...putting a new colt out with an older sibling who wanted to grind him into the ground... I hope you get my point - I even made a copy of the episode so I had my notes correct on what I actually saw on TV and where the factual discrepancies were.

To get on that show you had to sign a release that the facts you were representing were accurate - I have a copy of the release in my notebook. OH! I sent the Discovery Channel and the production company copies of the AMHA and AMHR Standards of Perfection to show what registry handled what size horse. I did not get a reply back.

That led the producer of our show (a different producer), "A Pet Story: Mercy Bo Cool" to try to set the facts straight.

And, not to beat a dead horse even further but I am sure, because it was on TV, people will think they can keep their pygmy horse tied to a dog house in the backyard....

Just my humble two cents worth...

Denise

Silversong Farm

 

[Little Wee Horse Farm]

I saw the pygmy horse thing too & hated it. It would be very confusing if I didn't know anything about miniatures. Some years ago, someone came to our farm looking for "Tom Thumb" breed & claimed they were the smallest in the world. I said I wasn't familiar with them and they acted like I was stupid. I'd been breeding minatures for at least 10 years by then. Oh well.....

BTW, the AMHR was the first minature registry. 1972, I think. Or 1978. But first one anyway.

Also, did anyone see Animal Precinct last week where they rescued an incredible skin & bones gray mare? (standard-sized).......the horse was starving to death & it was taken to a farm with lots of grass & turned out right away to graze at will. Nice thot, but dangerous one. They showed the horse a month later & it was fine, but what they had done had scared me. It bothered me in that it now looks to non-horsey people that that's what you do with a starving horse. Bad, Bad. They are so lucky she didn't colic & die.

 

[flamingstar]

Wholly whopper of a baby. 11lbs, yeeeeouch.

Now that I got that out. I sat there and watched that guiness world records episode, just to see a pygmy horse. Never saw one tho, what I did see what a cute mini. I couldn't believe that they let her go on there saying that it was a pygmy. Hmm, guess they should have done some checking to see when or where the last pygmy horse was. You would think that in front or that audience, and in front of millions of people watching on their tv's that they would have made her say the right things. Hmmm. jmo.

Vicki

 

[chandab]

Also, did anyone see Animal Precinct last week where they rescued an incredible skin & bones gray mare? (standard-sized).......the horse was starving to death & it was taken to a farm with lots of grass & turned out right away to graze at will. Nice thot, but dangerous one. They showed the horse a month later & it was fine, but what they had done had scared me. It bothered me in that it now looks to non-horsey people that that's what you do with a starving horse. Bad, Bad. They are so lucky she didn't colic & die.

Saw that episode and it bothered me. Even though they showed her being turned out on all that nice grass, I sure hope that they pulled her off it later and brought her weight up slowly. Did you catch the rest of the story... [Tatooed TB] The contacted the previous owner that thought they'd given her to a good home, he wanted her back, so she could have more babies for him, as one of her foals was now doing very well.

 

[Leeana]

chandab Posted Today, 03:03 PM QUOTE(Little Wee Horse Farm @ Jan 21 2008, 02:37 PM)

Also, did anyone see Animal Precinct last week where they rescued an incredible skin & bones gray mare? (standard-sized).......the horse was starving to death & it was taken to a farm with lots of grass & turned out right away to graze at will. Nice thot, but dangerous one. They showed the horse a month later & it was fine, but what they had done had scared me. It bothered me in that it now looks to non-horsey people that that's what you do with a starving horse. Bad, Bad. They are so lucky she didn't colic & die.

Saw that episode and it bothered me. Even though they showed her being turned out on all that nice grass, I sure hope that they pulled her off it later and brought her weight up slowly. Did you catch the rest of the story... [Tatooed TB] The contacted the previous owner that thought they'd given her to a good home, he wanted her back, so she could have more babies for him, as one of her foals was now doing very well.

Yes i seen that on TV to. They found out she had a famous sire and was bred by one of the biggest racing farms in the country, she was then sold as a broodmare and produced a winning foal. Then the people who starved her bought her as promised to take good care of her, well you know the story

.