Minis verses small ponies

[disneyhorse]

You're right, ShesMyStyle... But take away their papers and sell them down the road and they become a "pony"...

 

[Minimor]

Yep, lose the papers on a 14 hh Morgan or Arab and you have a pony that can compete just fine in the pony division at the shows.

You just can't take that little Morgan to an all breed show and enter the morgan classes and then also enter the open pony classes--if he is showing as a Morgan he can only enter the open horse classes. Leave the papers at home, skip the Morgan classes and you can show him as a pony.

 

[Gone_Riding]

That's cool to know.

 

[BiologyBrain]

As to the hooves - the heels really need to be taken down and not touch the toe. It will rocker the hoof back at a new proper angle and that toe will come up off the ground and provide a more appropriate break over. Just went through this with my first mini. Good luck!

When I tried that before it just made the elf-shoe-toe worse. I don't know if his coffin bone has rotated & is causing this or if I'm dealing with something else altogether. When we had the vet out this past winter, she left instructions for trimming the really fat one (Redman) since he was lame at the time. I'll take another look for and look at her instructions and see if I can make sense of it. I'll report back what I find. At the time of the vet's visit she basically told me the ponies weren't foundered, but Redman needed a better trim. She said Little Bit was lame from his thrush. I asked her about their elf-shoe feet (at the time all of them had some degree), but she didn't seem concerned. Maybe she didn't understand because she's typically a first class horse vet.

Do you think the fact that this farrier owns mules makes him trim differently? Or is it another myth (like thinking minis were very different than ponies) that mules have more upright boxy feet than horses/ponies?

When the farrier was rasping and trimming their hooves, he stopped when he began noticing an increasing pink/red tint to the white hooves. If I try to trim the heels down even further, how can I avoid quicking these little guys. I know with dogs if you consistently trim just a little bit, the quick 'moves back' and the next time (a week or so later) you can trim a bit further, and so on. That's kind of why the farrier has been coming so often. He's taken a lot of extra hoof since we had the vet out. I even worked on rasping their feet every so often, until I just couldn't manage anymore.

 

[Tremor]

Mules do have boxier and more upright hooves.

You have to realize that there is a lot of overgrown sole with that extra length. The area where there is blood, that isn't the "quick". I don't know how to explain it without showing you in person. It's hard for me to explain it.

I have a mare were had overgrown hooves and the overgrown sole was sore, but it wasn't the sole that she was supposed to be walking on originally. The hoof adapts easily and her hoof had morphed so that she could walk, so of course when we trimmed she was sore since we were trimming sole that was alive; yet not. You know?

The heels definitely need taken back. If you can, buy some nippers (you can get cheap ones but you'll need to sharpen them often) and a strong man friend to trim off a couple inches. That will help.

I wish you were in Iowa. I would totally take time off work to help you and these ponies.

 

[ohmt]

The toe needs to be backed up, which is why when you take heel off and don't touch the toe, it emphasizes the fact that the toe is too long as well, but for now the biggest thing is trying to get the angles back on track. Diet just does not affect hooves like this-of course it has somewhat of an impact, but a decent trim will give you a healthy hoof and these hooves desperately need a good trim.

I wish you the best-get a good farrier in there as soon as you are able

 

[disneyhorse]

X-rays wouldn't be a bad idea on these feet... They look questionable to me but no one, not even the best vets and farriers, have X-ray eyes...

 

[BiologyBrain]

So to keep the toe from curling again, I should probably do a combination of filing away at the toe (exaggerated Mustang roll?) and trim the heels as much as I can?

I hope I'm not frustrating you by being a gloomy Gus or Devil's advocate. I'm apparently not that great at describing what I've already tried with these guys. So every time you guys suggest something I have either already tried it and failed or have some other questions about how to go about your suggestion and its effects on the ponies overall health. I hope I don't sound dismissive of anyone's suggestions or like a complete loser. :-/

I've been looking at tons of hoof trimming websites. I think I get the gist of what I'm trying to do. I finally found some sites that show the curled toes like these little guys have. I don't know if I held my mouth right when I searched this time or what, but I have had a lot more luck finding good examples. I've been struggling with this issue since this past winter & finally got the nerve to sign up here & ask you experts. ;-)

My neighbor (Mr Oliver) is really sincere about helping his ponies, but he's also 70+ years old and had horses most (if not all of his life). Miniatures aren't his horses of the past. So kind of like trimming a badly neglected hoof, I have to gradually introduce changes to him and have 5,000 different ways to describe it and why the change is necessary. Even then he has to ruminate on my proposed changes for an indeterminate time.

This is going to sound stupid, but I've got 2 pairs of nippers that are terribly dull. How do I go about sharpening them? I don't have a hoof knife at this point, but I can probably convince him to go pick one up at the local farm store (Rural King). I have the handy/cute Trail Riders Buddy/Rasp thing & I like it pretty well. It's got a rounded hand-hold/case for two rasps of different grits at a 90* angle. It files both the bottom and the front at the same time. It's significantly shorter than a regular rasp and with the ergonomic hand-hold its much harder to rasp your own knuckles. If I do one pony a day (or however long it takes me to recover) I think I can manage if I can sharpen my nippers.

 

[BSharpRanch]

You need to "dress" back the toe flares. As long as they are there they create a lever and will continue to pull the toe outward (elf shoes). And yes, the heels need to come down, even if you just use a rasp to take small amounts off evenly every few days. And yes, donkeys and mules are usually trimmed in a more upright way. Good luck.

 

[Tab]

In actual AMHR miniature horses there are 2 size divisions, A is 34" and under and B is 34"+ to 38". AMHA miniature horse are all in the A-size category. You will find lots of minis with pony-like characteristics, but the goal is to breed the most horse like in appearance. You have succeeded if you see that horse in the pasture at a distance he looks like a large horse and as he walks toward you he gets smaller and smaller. An owner/breeder has achieved this when you just can't tell the height in person or by looking at a picture. It is easier to acquire this look in a horse that is 32-34". You really have a special mini if he looks like a big horse and is under 30", or even better he moves nice. All of mine are in the A category (under 34") and I always get people telling me they owned smaller ponies as kids or have seen smaller. They may very well have but usually this is a sign that you have produced a horse-like mini. I hear miniature pony a lot too and it used to bug the jeepers out of me, but I now ignore it. Note: even if what you have looks like a mini pony, hardcore mini people really don't like to hear miniature pony because it equals poor quality. Not a big deal any more, lots of people just don't know better! Like water off a duck's back.

Of course there are Shetland ponies, and a lot of these modern Shetland ponies look even LESS like ponies, just to really confuse you. I think that is why some just say small horse. If you've been in it long enough you just don't let the terminology get to you.