Dwarf characteristics

[jbrat]

This is a friend of mine's mare. Someone told her she has dwarf traits and should never be bred nor would she be able to ever do anything more than be a pet.

The mare is tiny and over weight esp. in this pic which is from early spring. I don't have any great pics. to post of her here, so for now this will have to do. I do have other pics but the owner is also in the pic. so I feel I shouldn't post it online, but may possibly thru email if better pics. are needed.

I saw the mare last week and she is looking great and looking alittle more fit. She Foundered over a year ago, and luckily seems to have made a complete recovery. The owner would like to do more with the mare and it would be good for them both if she started training the mare to do a few local open and 4-H shows it would help get her into shape.

I don't think she's dwarf at all just alittle too plump. But hearing from the forum members will give me more confidence in my opinion. This mare is such a yard pet and would be a fun and easy mini to train for different things possibly even driving. She's only maybe 3-4 at the oldest and will do about anything you want. She's probably btw 31-33 1/2 inches tall.

The mare in the red halter in the background is this ones mom/dam.

Thanks !

 

[Cara]

maybe just a little in the face,

we have two dwarfs at the farm , (srry i don't have any pics) but they have a underbite, there hood are twisted! they are getting better i must say, we got them from the states! and since we have had them our farrier has done a great job on them, ! but i would say this mare might have alittle of dwarf characeristics in her face!

 

[ClickMini]

I don't know about dwarf characteristics, but she is not one that I would personally use in a breeding program. She is more of a pet quality. I say train her and use her for sure! Drive on!

 

[The Dynamic Duo]

I have to disagree with Kara, she has a pretty nice head but her front legs look a little funny to me, shorter than normal. A typical dwarf head has the large dome, and isn't normally very proporteinent(sp?) compared to the rest of the body and the back is long.

I agree with clickmini, she would make a great little show horse for performance, maybe even Liberty

 

[Leeana]

I dont see any dwarf charicteristics. She doesnt look like she is super correct, her legs look a little short for her body but i wouldnt say she is a dwarf. I wouldnt use her for breeding, i dont think she has a dwarfy head at all.

I think she just has a short neck which makes her head look big. Is her bite on or off?

I think she would make a great 4H project for some kid though, i think your mom calls them cute little watermellon ponies?

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[_minihorses4ever_]

I dont see any dwarf charicteristics. She doesnt look like she is super correct, her legs look a little short for her body but i wouldnt say she is a dwarf. I wouldnt use her for breeding, i dont think she has a dwarfy head at all.

I think she just has a short neck which makes her head look big. Is her bite on or off?

I think she would make a great 4H project for some kid though, i think your mom calls them cute little watermellon ponies?

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I agree with Leeana. I don't see dwarf in her at all.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Nothing there screams "Dwarf" at me but she is just a plain little Pet quality Mare- not breeding quality and not the best conformation- no reason at all why she should not make someone a nice little project- she is not that small, she could drive and it would certainly help the weight problem.

I would advise extreme caution driving a previously foundered mare on road surfaces- driving on grass and soft trails would be fine, with care.

 

[jbrat]

I know she's not a top halter mini she is more a watermelon with legs as mom would say.

Her bite is perfect and always has been, (I first met her as a weanling.)

I think if she lost some weight, her body wouldn't look too big for her legs.

Performance is what she would show her in, I was just fairly concerned about over doing it with her if we started introducing her to low small jumps, since she has foundered once and because someone told her she couldn't doing anything because she was dwarfed. We know nothing about the stud she's from but the dam is really nice other than being alittle overly chunky. They have no plans to breed her. She has a good personality and can be a real pistol at times. She is thier pet and I'm sure she has found her life long home I'm just thinking a job would be good for her and help her loose some of her excess weight. But I also don't want to encourage this young lady to take her to shows if people are going to be saying negative things about her pony. I think she's a complete doll with alot of potential, I'm just not sure if I should encourage her to show this mare to or if she should just stick with showing the dam. It really upset her when someone said this mare was a dwarf - this person may have just said that because of the mares small size but it really worried the owner.

Here's alittle better pic. I found.

She has nice large eyes but no dwarf bump on her head.

Thanks to you all for your help.

 

[ClickMini]

She is pretty cute and I think once she lost some weight she would be healthier. So get her out to some exercise I say. I would be careful about the jumping, but I think driving would be easier on her. She could probably jump some low jumps after she lost some weight. Just remember that when they founder the laminar connection is damaged in their hooves so I would avoid too much concussion. I think she would be a great youth performance project! I see a lot at the shows in that category that look similar.

 

[Jill]

The most recently posted picture is much better for evaluation. I think she has got such a sweet and adorable head and is a very cute mare. She's not what I'd use for breeding, but I do think she's really pleasant to see with her cute face and awesome color. Looks like she'd be a great pet and probably has some performance potential, too. I do not see anything that makes me think she's a dwarf.

 

[jbrat]

Thanks for confirming my opinion about her NOT being dwarf.

She's not at all spooky so I think she would make a good driving prospect too.

I should clear up when I said she foundered well thats my opinion too. When they had the vet out over it he said she was colicing and having labored breathing and probably wouldn't live but here she is alive and well. - ( no equine vet facilaities near us- vet just went to thier farm)

She had all the signs of founder - walking stiff and sore- her feet grew wild and weird for awhile after that - even with regular trimming. But she doing great now.

And if I push her to get in shape for next year show season it'll be even better for the mares health, maybe we'll just leave the jumping out for a while. I just asked that because we did have trail in hand classes in our county but I've just found out they removed it from the show bill and only are offering it to reproduction projects(yearlings). I'm working on getting our county to offer more for the kids w/ minis. NOw they only have showmanship classes to show in. They have a longing and ground driving class for the reproduction (yearling)projects. I'm hoping since their are so few yearlings at the fair they will open these classes up to the minis too. I've been told though the county horse people aren't to excepting to changes so I may been in for a long battle - I've had my books and request in since last feb. and nothing has been adressed at the meetings yet- so I'm patiently waiting but after fair and show season is over I'm going to have to get pushy if they don't get to it - atleast discuss it! Wish me luck! :bgrin

 

[Reble]

Hard to tell with out her being clipped, believe me they can surprise you when they are clipped.

31-32 does not sound like dwarf to me. Legs might look small because of over weight and not being clipped.

 

[Chamomile]

I agree with everyone here, that she is not a dwarf. I wouldn't breed her myself as I think she is a little heavy boned. Her head is just a little wide through the nasal bone that's all, but not dwarfy! Her legs don't look crooked or anything like that! I would say with her size, she should be able to pull a cart very easily! Good luck with her!

 

[Sandy S.]

Cute mare. I wouldn't make any judgements until #1 she is clipped and #2 she lost quite a bit of weight. you never know what might await under the disquise, maybe just a diamond in the rough. Been there with a couple that were hairy and overweight and you would not believe what they looked like after a lot of exercise, weight loss and being clipped and cleaned up. Wow!!!

 

[nootka]

Proportionately, what bothers me is her legs. Even though she is supposed to be 31" - 32" tall, she comes across as a much smaller looking mare.

I am not going to say she is dwarfy just that her proportions are off enough to concern me.

then again, I tend to try and play it safe in that dept. in lieu of having genetic testing.

Who knows, I may be WAY off base with what I know/suspect, but I would not breed that mare as has been said by others (and not just because of her proportions).

She IS sweet looking, and has an intelligent look to her. I bet she will be great at whatever she does end up doing.

Liz M.

 

[Sue S]

She don't look like she has dwarf signs to me, she is a little cutie.

 

[shalamara minis]

Not adwarf. But she looks more old style miniature before they started to breed refinement into them. She would make a good performance horse. Good Luck!