how did you get started in minis

[~Dan]

I always love to hear these stories i dont know why

so can you share...

 

[Cara]

i got started in minis when i moved to ontario from alberta,a year or two later i noticed this farm(lilfoot) down the road from me, so when i was a lil older i went down with my grandpa and looked around and met the horses and sandy and some of the 4h kids, the first horse i saw i fell inlove with, a white gelding named tonto!

he was so sweet, he was leased at the time and is now, i still see him from time to time

anyway after a year of visiting the farm i talked to sandy and i wanted to join 4h and start leasing a horse, well 5 going on 6 years later here i am now owning a miniature and still loving them to pieces just like reeses

 

[Candice]

I've had horses most of my life and years ago at a parade I saw my first miniatures in person and I remember thinking "whats the point".

About 4yrs ago a good friend of mine was given a little 3yr old mare. I was over at her house and I absolutely fell head over heels in love with this mare. She was heavy in foal at the time. I knew "NOTHING" at all about miniatures and neither did she. I got so attached to this little mare. One Saturday morning my friend calls me all upset. She went out to feed and Nicki didn't come up to the barn. She hopped on her 4 wheeler and went out looking and found Nicky and the foal both dead. The foal was half delivered. I was DEVASTATED. I took it harder than my friend did. It was at that time that my adventure began as I started learning everything I could about minis.

I studied and read and researched for almost 2yrs before I purchased my first horses. I made sure that I purchased older well bred mares that I could learn from and am very glad that I did that. My horses have taught me a LOT and continue to do so every day.

 

[walkermini]

I had big horses as a teenager, then moved, married etc. and was out of horses for several years. We moved here to KY and I was able to get horses again. First I got a few big horses to ride, but my main enjoyment was just watching, grooming, and messing with them, I barely rode. I found I really enjoyed the babies so started breeding Tennessee Walkers, which i really love but came to the conclusion a nice size breeding herd was just too much to feed on my available acreage. Way too expensive with grain and hay I needed to supplement...So I decided to just keep a couple biggies, and get Minis...the perfect solution, since we hardly ever ride, and they eat SO much less! My kids like them alot more than the big horses, and we all love their personalities.

My only regret is I didnt do it sooner! And another plus, especially to my hubby is that I have sold my mini foals faster and for more than the TWH foals...and if they dont sell and I have them for a while, its much less to feed them than the big foals. and much less space.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

My then 13 yr old daughter got a qtr horse filly and we found an lovely old mare to be her companion. We learned alot from Mags..1) she was 30 not 11, 2) she had a foal the following spring, 3) miniatures are heaven on earth thus my sadness at retiring tho necessary.

 

[Leeana]

Got my first miniature about six years ago..just a pet. He was trained to drive ext, nothing fancy. Payed around with him for a while, hit a few local fairs/shows for fun and then got a few other grade miniatures/ponies. Then went to my first "rated" show to watch and decided that was pretty neat

. Got my first registered shetland and hit a few shows and well...from there the rest is history

. Sold the grades, actually my first mini, coco, lives with Linda (LGahr) now, and put together a show string of AMHR / ASPC horses and have a breeding program under the works.

 

[Sassy'sMom]

I grew up with horses and sold my last one when I was in high school. Well, 20 years later we were finally able to buy a house in the country and I was so excited to get another horse! We bought a 5 year old paint mare that was only green broke! Silly me! After that many years without horses, I needed something older and more settled.

I actually bought my first grade mini to be a companion to my big horse! At the time, I never knew how dangerous that could be. I guess I should have, since my biggie was a little hyper!

Well, I fell in love with my little Sassy so fast and so much I ended up selling my big horse (I hardly ever rode her any way) and I now have 3 more minis, although those 3 are registered!

Sassy will always be first in my heart though. I bought her last year when she was only 4 months old. She is 16 months old already! That year went so fast! I love all of my minis, but she will always be first with me! And she earned her name by the way! We have a saying whenever she does something now "because she's Sassy"!

 

[mininik]

I saw my first Mini in the back of a Western Horseman magazine.

 

[~Dan]

Awesome stories veryone

Well heres mine...

About six years ago, my dads eye doctor found a freckle on the back of his eye, well needless to say the doctor noticed it was growing and later found it was cancerous. Last summer he was sent to cleaveland clinic and had surgery (the tumor is now dead by the way) so on the way down my dad said that I could some minis. He knew I always wanted horses but we did not have the acerage or money for big horses, so I settled ofr the next best thing minis.

so now I have minis and am tring to buy some more so my two can have some more horses to gallop around with but thats work in progress

thanks for posting your stories keep em coming...

 

[PrestigeMiniHorses]

Well goodness gracious it will be 8 years here very soon of being involved with the minis. I was formerly a HUnter/ Jumper,dressage rider... I also did alil bit of western pleasure as well and well long story short I got into a bad accident. And was scared to pieces and never thought I would even bother with riding again. Well the family moved to CO and right up the road from me was a mini horse farm. I walked by there one day just to look and it just so happened to be that the owner was outside feeding. So we talked and pretty much from then on I was hooked. A year after meeting her I bought a mini from her. Well a couple years ago I wanted to try riding again and ended up with a Hackney Pony. I retrained him while I interned at a Saddleseat farm.. Well after I was done with that I finally figured out that my true passion was with the lil ones... So I gave him to one of my 4-H kids... And hubby bought me Blue.. And then here recently I got a very nice Shetland and I am really thrilled with him. He's def. not as big as my Hackney was..Nor as hott thank goodness... So I would be certain to say that I am hooked on the wee ones of the equine world

 

[anoki]

Many, MANY years ago (man I feel old when I say that

) my grandfather took me to a miniature horse farm near where they lived. At the time, mini farms were very few and far between. I was absolutely horse C-R-A-Z-Y and my parents were not horse people, though we did live on a farm. I was hooked from the time we were introduced to the first mini! I fell head over heels for a mare named Scarlet....oh I loved that mare. 2 years later, my parents bought me Ginger as a Christmas present (totally shocked me!).....that was almost 19 years ago

and she is now 25, though she is starting to show her age

Anyway, my parents thought minis were a good alternative, since they didn't want to be stuck with a big horse once I 'grew out of the horse phase'! LOL Boy were they delusional!!!

Now I've got 4 mares, a gelding, a stallion, 2 mini donks and a riding horse. I'll always have at least one mini around.....gotta have something for the corgwyn to herd!

Ginger-taken about 5 years ago just after a bath

~kathryn

 

[MiniMaid]

my mom works for ionafarm OH!

 

[fancyappy]

My beloved pet goat died after bravely fighting an illness for nine months.

I was devastated, numb with grief. I lost all interest in our farm, our remaining goat or Appy riding horses.I began to sell off our big horses. I just did not want any animals anymore, I had no interest in any of it..

My husband felt I needed another goat to help me heal. He bought me a show goat and forced me to take her and show her in a show in Ohio. We met a woman there who lived close to us who invited us to her farm to see her goats and perhaps breed my show goat.

A couple months later on a whim we visited her and met her goats and mini donks. We fell hard for the donks and took 2 home..

I started to feel better and this spring started to look for a spotted mini donkey.

I drove to a farm to look at the wonderful donkeys but I came home with a rescued, starved appy mini stallion.I had never considered mini horses but this guy looked at me and I was lost. He is so precious to me now.

A month later we adopted 2 more mini's and the mare 2 weeks ago today had a foal. A huge surprise.

So my heavy heart led me to the mini's and now I will never be without them.The donks and especially the mini horses filled my heart again.

Now how to convince hubby to let me have more LOL

My beloved goat gave me many gifts didn't he?

 

[Stef]

Our adventure with minis started with my mom. She fell in love with them when she was a kid, and saw them at the regina winery. So fourteen years ago she decided it was time to fulfill her life long dream. We started out with two and now we own nine.

 

[dixie_belle]

As a child I was horse crazy (come on, what little girl isn't?) My parents would get me riding lessons but I never had enough land to ever have one. So after many, many years I finally moved out to the country and have a nice rustic house on two acres. Every day we passed a mini-horse farm on the way back and forth to work. Every spring we would stop and see the babies, and talk to the breeder. Three years ago, "Fluffy" was born in January! We nicknamed him Fluffy because he was born with his full winter coat. We saw him when he was less than 24 hours old and would stop all the time to pet him. One day, I finally asked the dreaded question: "how much is he?" Well, I bought him on the spot and he wasn't even weaned yet. Oh, did I mention we had no fencing, no loafing shed, no anything horse related? So we ordered horse fencing on line and spend every available minute after work in the evenings fencing in the back yard, building a stall in the barn (formerly known as the car shop for hubby), having a loafing shed built, buying a feeder, halters, etc. It was a very frantic time. I decided somewhere along the line that it would not be fair for Fluffy to be the only mini as he would be terribly lonely so.........along came Spot. Spot actually arrived before Fluff because he was a tad older and already weaned. We drove to pick him up (5 hours away) the very day after the fencing was complete. Both boys bonded instantly and are BFF. And now there are three because our vet gave us Peanut last year. They are all gelded, all spoiled and I wonder how I possibly got along without them before. I suspect that if the mini breeder hadn't been located where he was, I would probably still be mini horse less!

 

[~Dan]

neat stories everyone keep em commin