Your Opinion

[MiniaturePrincess429]

Okay, well We are finally biulding a barn in kahoots with my neighbor/aunt, and will be getting 2 horses. We also are thinking on getting a mini for the younger kids (and for me of course

: ) I keep trying to tell my aunt that a mini might not get along with biggies and it could even get hurt.

So I want you opinion on weather you think it is safe to pasture minis and biggies together.

Also I may end up printing your replies out to show her.

Thanks

 

[_minihorses4ever_]

No. I think it is a bad idea. One blow to the head from a big horse, whether it be play or fight, could kill your mini. There is just TOO MUCH of a size difference for me. I would never risk my gelding's life by putting him with a big horse.

 

[chandab]

I say no to pasturing big horses and minis together. I have both and they both have separate pastures. The minis are just about the right height to get kicked in the head by the large counterparts; even if just in fun, a full-size kick could kill a mini. [i've had full-size horses get injured bad enough playing with each other, I don't even want to imagine what might happen to a mini.]

My minis enjoy the company of their full-size cousins through the safety of a strong fence.

 

[mondak]

We have both minis and big ones and we def. keep them separate. Its not about them not getting along so much as if pecking order was established one might get hurt in that normal "sniff, squeal, sniff, buck" routine.

Courtney

 

[HGFarm]

Absolutely NO to combining them together! They can share a fence line on an appropriate fence, but never in the same area. We have big and small horses and no way would we even dream of housing them or even turning them out together.

 

[Marty]

Never.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

No.

People have done it and got away with it.

I have, in the past, I had NO problems.

For me it's the same as using Bute and Quest- I did it before I found out how dangerous it could be.

I never had a problem with either product BUT when I found out how dangerous it could be, I stopped doing it.

So, NO , NEVER.

If you do it, eventually you will have a dead or badly hurt Mini.

They can get along and never fight, a big horse can kill a Mini playing.

A big horse can kill a Mini kicking out at a fly. :no:

 

[MiniaturePrincess429]

Thanks for all your "testimonies". My Aunt has decided for the time being to not get a mini and we may be leasing a pony named Amber from Royal View Farm (Kathy west on here known as royalview), for the winter so the little kids can learn all about horses.

 

[Sandee]

Thanks for all your "testimonies". My Aunt has decided for the time being to not get a mini and we may be leasing a pony named Amber from Royal View Farm (Kathy west on here known as royalview), for the winter so the little kids can learn all about horses.

Sort of sorry to hear that. The temperment of the minis is much more suitable for really young or intimidated people to learn with. A pony is great if it's VERY well trained or if you know how to handle a horse/pony.

For instance my grandson is 5 and was intimidated by our 35" gelding and our 31" stud (no surprise there) but when our filly came along she was so small and calm and much more his size that he's unoffically adopted her.

Don't misunderstand children still need to be supervised with minis but the size and weight let alone the attitude is so different from a pony that I feel children, even timid adults, do better with minis.

 

[disneyhorse]

Sorry Sandee but I don't see any difference in temperament beween ponies and minis.

Andrea

 

[Miniv]

We have AMHA minis and double registered ASPC/AMHR "ponies"......

The main concern I have is mixing the full sized horse with the smaller equine......no matter which they are.

All it takes from a big horse is a playful kick, and the smaller one can be either dead or very seriously injured.

MA

 

[KarenM]

a lot of TB have mini's or ponies as companions..

we had a colt he was sold and is in with a WB so far so good...

I agree with Andrea I don't see any difference in temperament between ponies and minis .. after all there are Mini Ponies !!! the same size in height as Mini Horse...

 

[rabbitsfizz]

So far, so good....right up to the day the big horse kills the mini- inadvertently.

We have had this discussion so very many times.

Whatever you have been able to get away with, that is up to you and the risks you are willing to take.

It is however, just not a good idea to tell someone who is new to the problem and asking a very sensible question that it is OK to do this.

After all, are YOU going to be the one to go over there and help her bury her horse when things do go wrong???????

 

[irishmini]

i think you are all wrong....... :no:

now ,saying that, i think as with all horses, temperement has to be taken into account, and proper precautions taken... like, removing shoes...... putting new horse in seperate paddock, but beside the other horses......... or introducing a new horse to the least dominant, already in your herd first..... etc, and it doesnt always work out, many horses just dont get along.......

but i have kept all diff sizes of horses together over the years... i kept a standard shetland( about 39") with a 16hh gelding for 8 years.. and they loved each other to bits!!!!!!!. most recently i had my 33" mini with a 14.2hh mare, they too loved one another... i just took proper precautions!!!!as i meantione before.... you usually have a fairly good idea, if they will get along before you let them out together....

so i say, you should get your mini..... but just be careful for a few days..........

just have to say,.... we all know accidents can happen.but that is true of lots of things......one could say... dont ride, you could fall off and kill yourself.... but if you take propper precautions, the risk is minimised!!!!!. i think this is the same. :

 

[Relic]

l fail to see the comment on a person taking PROPER PRECAUTIONS just what would those be when turning out a big and a mini how does that help when they are out in the far end of the field decide to either run around with hoofs flying in joy or just getting frisky for the sake of frisky and knocking the little guy down and out because they were feeling good or do most people just have docile doopy big horses that never feel the joy in a good romp... l would never ever say to anyone new you should get your mini.....but just be careful for a few days.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I do not believe there are any precautions that anyone ever thought of that can prevent accidents.

The problem is that when an accident happens involving a Mini and a big horse there are often tragic results.

A friend of mine kept his Mini mare in with big, kind horses for three years .

One day he went out and found her dead, she had been kicked, in play, by one of the big horses and it had ruptured her diaphragm and killed her.

She was five months pregnant.

It is fine and dandy right up to the point when the big horse, inadvertently and with no intended malice, kills the Mini.

By accident.

Not on purpose.

ALL horses kick and buck in play.

When that happens with a huge size gap, no matter how much they may love one another, the little one can die in a moment.

 

[irishmini]

ITS LIKE ALL THINGS... IF YOUVE HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE...IT'LL STAY WITH YOU FOREVER IF YOUVE HAD A GOOD ONE ,,,, THE SAME!!!!!, ITS AMAIZING THOUGH.. A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO, I AGREED WITH RABBIT ABOUT RELIC, JUMPING A PREGNANT MARE.... AND NOW, RABBIT AND RELIC ARE UNITED ON THIS TOPIC, IT JUST SHOWS YOU HOW DIVERSE OUR OPINIONS ARE ,,, DOESN,T IT ( SOUNDS LIKE A NEW TOPIC TO ME!!!!!!!!!)...........

BUT , YOU KNOW, I LISTEN TO ALL OPINIONS AND THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT THE MORE I THINK,,, MAYBE I WAS JUST LUCKY............ AND NO!!! MY 16HH GELDING.. FLINT!! WAS FAR FROM DOPE,Y I EVENTED AND HUNTED HIM.... AND HE WAS A REAL CHEEKY CHAPPY!!! I OFTEN SAW THEM FLYING AROUND THE FIELD PLAYING........

IF YOU LOOK IN PONY MAGAZINE... THEY HAVE A MONTHLY ARTICAL ABOUT THIER SHETLAND WITH THEIR 14.2 CONNEMARA AND NOW A 15HH ALSO., WHICH THEY GOT LAST MONTH, THEY HAVE TOLD THOUSANDS OF KIDS OUT THERE ABOUT " PROPER PRECAUTIONS"........ WHY DONT YOU WRITE TO THEM AND TELL THEM WHAT YOU TOLD ME.... I'M SURE THEY'D BE DELIGHTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Leeana]

I normally try to stay away from this topic bc i've always viewed it as common sense.

Just picturing a 1,200lb horse in the pasture with a 250lb mini just scares me and thats just picturing it in my head. If i came home one day and i saw one of my mini's (or my 38'' shetland for that matter) in with one of my dads big horses (he doesnt have any anymore but lets just imagine here) whoever is resonsible would be getting a big piece of my mind.

I go to amish country once in a while and i see Miniatures and miniature *foals* in pasture with huge draft horses and i cannot imagine what that person is thinking, all that horse has to do is step on the foal and its all over. The size difference is just to much. That is like putting a 50lb kid up agianst a 500lb man and taking bets on whose going to win ...its insaine to imagine (not implying anyone on here is insaine).

As for taking precautions, i dont see what type of precautions you could possibly take ..? Unless your standing next to that mini 24/7 while there in the pasture with the big horse. Running out there every 10 minutes to put fly spray on the big horse so they dont kick at a fly and hit the mini by accident. Does that sound realistic?

IMO, it takes less then a few hours to fence off a 1/2 acre or so for a mini. Take a portion of the big horses pasture and fence it off. Simple, cheap and practical.

 

[Tony The Pony]

I am also against pasturing minis and big horses together in the same field, due to the reasons alreayd posted.

 

[MiniaturePrincess429]

Well the pony we are prolly going to be leasing I think would do fine w/ biggies since she's round them all the time. My cousin bought her first horse, a 20 y/o stdbred gelding named Star