These kind of calls make me weary...

[Dona]

Got a voicemail the other evening from a gal who said she saw my ad & wanted to talk to me about the Eastern Championship Show. (I had posted an ad for some horses I had for sale, and mentioned that I could transport to that show)

So….I assumed she was interested in my horses, right? I called her right back & we talked for some time...a long time, about her horses.... before she finally got around to what she “really” wanted. She just wanted to know what day the auction would be at the Eastern Championship Show, as she wanted to go to it to buy some horses. Well, OK, I was disappointed, but I have always tried to help people, regardless, and directed her to the AMHA website, as I didn’t have the info on the auction.

She continued talking about her Miniatures and said she had over 30, none of them registered. Said she thought if she was going to be in “the business” she should buy up a few registered ones, and figured this auction would be a good place. I agreed, it would be a great place to find quality Miniatures, and probably for decent prices. I went on to try to give her some helpful information, but she went on to tell me about her miniature donkeys & how cute they were (I agreed, Mini donkeys are absolutely adorable.) She said her Mini jack was only 23”. (hmmmmmm)

Then she told me about this little Mini mare she had who was a perfect, miniaturized replica of a horse…….and was only 17”. My first thought, of course, was dwarf...but thought, maybe this is a newborn she’s talking about & asked her how old it was. She said it was 4 years old! I mentioned “WOW”….that’s extremely small even for a mature Dwarf. She insisted it was not a Dwarf, but looked just like a perfect, sized down little horse. I told her I would love to see it, and could she e-mail me photos? She said she wasn’t set up with e-mail yet.

I remained very polite & interested through the entire phone call, but bit my tongue not to say what I wanted to….because at that point, I knew she wouldn’t take it well.

It’s really hard to help people when they have no interest in being helped.

This lady truly thought she had something special with this 17” Mini, and 23" Jack and no one was going to tell her anything different. Makes me wonder what the rest of her herd looks like.

I hope, if she shows up at the auction & buys some horses, that whoever she buys from will care enough about the horses they sold to her, to follow up, see how they are doing & offer her some “experienced” help & knowledge.

It's these kind of buyers that make me leery of selling through auctions. And yes, I know we ALL take chances on what kind of homes our horses go to whenever we sell, but at least through a private sale, you have some kind of control & can check buyers out ahead of time. Not trying to badmouth auctions....it's just my personal preference.

 

[Genie]

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

17 inches and 4 years old???????I am surprised she isn't on Guiness World Record with that one

 

[Marty]

Banging head on desk Dona!

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

 

[sfmini]

I guess the good news is there was no auction.

 

[ohmt]

I have found that most of the time when someone tells us they have a horse that is 'just 20" and perfect!', it is either a dwarf or they are horrible at measuring or they are fibbing...or all of the above

We get a lot of advertisements in our local paper with someone having a really tiny, perfect miniature horse and 90% of the time they haven't actually measured the horse, they just guess and then I bring along my measuring stick and get 30" instead. Luckily most of the horses I've taken a look at are decently cared for, their owners just aren't well educated on miniature horses. I do feel sorry for the people that fall for their false advertising and buy that tiny 20" perfect miniature horse that is actually much, much taller.

 

[MindyLee]

I have found that most of the time when someone tells us they have a horse that is 'just 20" and perfect!', it is either a dwarf or they are horrible at measuring or they are fibbing...or all of the above

We get a lot of advertisements in our local paper with someone having a really tiny, perfect miniature horse and 90% of the time they haven't actually measured the horse, they just guess and then I bring along my measuring stick and get 30" instead. Luckily most of the horses I've taken a look at are decently cared for, their owners just aren't well educated on miniature horses. I do feel sorry for the people that fall for their false advertising and buy that tiny 20" perfect miniature horse that is actually much, much taller.

I totally agree with you on this one. I am mini equine farrier for the county I live in and 90% of my new clients informed me wrong on sizes, from 23"- 40". I had a lady call me to come trim her mini and I asked her how big cause all my farrier equiptment is for 38" under, and she says "Oh well hes way small just about hip size" So I quote her on a price and when I get there she takes me to a stall where a pony/horse is standing with HUGE slippers. I turned to the lady who was about my size (5.3") and say thats not a mini but a horse. I cant trim that with my tools and told her sorry but she needs to contact a big horse farrier. She got all snippy with me and said it too is a mini pony and that she needs me to trim it cause my prices where way low for her to afford and everyone else want $60. I delt with it but in the end I left cause there was no way I could trim her horse.

And others say small like 30" most of the times and when I get there< they usally are about 34-36" tall. So when folks tell me a size they have, I alyays asume bigger now.

 

[wingnut]

I was at a show last week at a local county fair. A "biggie" show was going on in the next ring. There were lots of people that were there just watching both rings. I had several folks stop me to ask me questions about my horse. When I mentioned something about geldings, the woman looked at me with such a confused looked and said "What's a gelding? You mean like neutered? What do you do with a horse like that?"

Granted, I know that's a common thought among the under educated, in fact, my own dear husband had similar thoughts in the beginning. Still, I tried to explain how a gelding is a great choice for a beginner owner...but the eyes glazed over and the conversation was over.

 

[kaykay]

I feel your pain sister. I have had so many of these calls it isnt funny. Also had ones like this come to the farm and waste endless hours of time when they really had no intention of ever buying a horse. Like you I always try to be helpful but eventually you have to limit who you can help and who you cant.

 

[wildoak]

Yep, aggravating...and those are the folks who don't know they need an education, and won't listen if you try to tell them. Sounds like you handled it with lots of restraint Dona, LOL.

Jan

 

[Mareish Mom]

Maybe they just have no clue how to measure. I once went to look at a 15h horse and she was obviously not; so I measured her (always take my stick with me!) and she was only 13.1h. Now to experienced eyes there is no way a 13h horse (aka pony) looks like a 15h horse! So many people just can't be bothered to LEARN anything.

 

[Kendra]

My brother likes to tell the story of the man who spoke to him at the Calgary Stampede, telling him, "But these aren't the REAL little ones, they come a lot smaller than this. I know a guy, Merv Giles, he owns a hundred of these, every one black and not a one of them over 20 inches tall." My brother tried to explain to him that the horse he was petting was owned by Merv Giles (my Grandad), but gave up on how wrong the rest of it was. (Well, we do have a lot of blacks. ;-) The 100 horses and the 20 inches tall part was completely wrong though.)

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

That's so sad Dona. It's hard to explain to people that don't want to be educated regarding Minis. Thirty Minis and donkeys, at least if she ends up with mules they won't procreate. This is just so disturbing, considering the Forum family and how we all struggle to improve our herds, breeding, etc., and those types are out there.

 

[Carolyn R]

My brother likes to tell the story of the man who spoke to him at the Calgary Stampede, telling him, "But these aren't the REAL little ones, they come a lot smaller than this. I know a guy, Merv Giles, he owns a hundred of these, every one black and not a one of them over 20 inches tall." My brother tried to explain to him that the horse he was petting was owned by Merv Giles (my Grandad), but gave up on how wrong the rest of it was. (Well, we do have a lot of blacks. ;-) The 100 horses and the 20 inches tall part was completely wrong though.)

LOL, maybe he didn't realize he was looking at foals and weanlings at the time

If people can't differentiate between a dwarf and a normal miniature, why should we expect them to differentiate between a foal/weanling and a full grown miniature.