Height of minis, breeding, etc.

[loveminis]

I have been noticing that a large percentage of AMHA minis for sale are advertised as maturing 33-34" + size. What happens when these horses are bred to the same size, in time will their foals eventually go oversize for AMHA ? How does that affect the breed and measuring at the shows when they get to that 34" size and could easily go over ? I prefer the smaller minis and they are getting harder to find, especially in my area where most breed for driving horses and they are taller.

 

[bingo]

That is one of the wonderful things about minis. There truly is something for everyone those that prefer the tiny ones do have choices as do those that prefer the taller performance type of horses!

 

[loveminis]

Bingo, I agree ! I just wonder what happens in a few years when so many minis are bred taller, how will it affect the breed ? Will they start going over ?

This is NOT a topic about smaller and taller

 

[bingo]

I don't thing it will change the breed at all. It will be just the same as it is now. Those who prefer the tiny ones know which breeders specialize in that and they will always have them. Those that prefer the taller ones will also know which breeders to choose from.

I do not see the smaller ones being phased out.

 

[Jill]

There are plenty of smaller ones for sale. If someone wants to concentrate on breeding smaller minis, and lots of someones do, there's a lot to choose from. I've found to find what "I" like in miniatures, I can rarely look in my immediate area when it comes to new purchases. It may be the same for you, where to find "exactly" what you want, you may decide to broaden the geographic area you'll consider shopping in. I wouldn't have built a herd I'm as happy with as I am with the one I have if I could only let myself consider horses I could personally visit before purchasing.

 

[loveminis]

Ok, lets forget about preferences, that is not what I am curious about. I am curious about breeding taller to taller and what size foals will come from that ? Sorry if what I am saying sounds confusing

 

[bingo]

There is no simple answer to that. Some larger horses seem to always produce smaller no matter what they are bred to and some are all over the map.

I myself have a 37 inch mare. She has had 2 foals for me full brothers The sire was 31 inches one was 36 inches at maturity the other 33 so who is to say which one is stronger in the height gene department? It is just a crap shoot IMO

 

[Jill]

I am sure that if you bred 100 33-34" minis together, you'd have more foals likely to go over than if you bred 100 31" minis together. Of course, though, there are plenty of B size horses who have A size parents. To me, it's about how nicely the horses are put together... I don't envision my foals over growing registry papers, though, even out of my 33-34" mares, but only having AMHR papers wouldn't make me feel like the cross was a failure if that ever came to be the case.

My tallest horse is my show gelding, Bacardi, a son of BTU. He's got two AMHA parents and stands a beautiful 37.25"

SOOOO, you just never know for sure what may come about in terms of height.

 

[McBunz]

From the Standard of Perfection

"Since the breed objective is the smallest possible perfect horse, preference in judging shall be

given the smallest horse, other characteristics being approximately equal..."

The resent post on the smallest horse that is not a dwarf tells me there are lots of excellent very

small miniatures..

 

[kaykay]

I really think there is no way to really predict height. One of the problems is that registration papers dont always list true heights so when you research a certain pedigree you really dont know what the true heights of grand parents etc were.

I have an amha/amhr mare that grew after 3 years old to 35.5 so I dropped her A papers. To date she has NEVER had a foal mature over 32". Even bred to much taller stallions. This year she was bred to Black who is 36.5 and her foal is on track to mature at 32 again. Its just mind boggling!! I had really hoped her foal would be taller LOL. So even though she is a taller mare for some reason she is a size reducer.

On the other hand I have had friends breed very small stallions to smaller mares and get taller foals.