Riding age?

[Walt's Fault]

At what age should a mini be before you let weight appropriate children ride them? I have been seeing a lot of sale adds for minis that are "ready to ride" as young as 6 months with the average being 10 months. I got Yazhi at 10 months old and he was tiny, no muscle tone and very immature. He is now 2 1/2 and we just started cart training. Most of the adds are from breeders and people selling "party" ponies. I'm concerned about the horses physical development at such a young age. Am I missing something between minis and horse?

 

[JFNM miniatures]

No, you didn’t miss anything between horses and minis. And you are very right to be concerned about physical development.

For details i will let someone else who is more expert explain, but in general, a mini should not before he stops growing… at 2 and 1/2, He would still be growing and I believe ( please correct me if not) that minis continue to mature until 4-5 years old… so not before that, else you can run into serious issues related to physical development, as you said.

As for those ads, I just can’t believe people say that of an 8 month old mini…

 

[Kelly]

My minis are ALL way too small to ride!!! You can still have a “party pony” and not ride them

 

[Walt's Fault]

Too many pony mills! Especially "Christmas Presents"

 

[JFNM miniatures]

Too many pony mills! Especially "Christmas Presents"

Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking when I saw this… very sad.

Your little Yazhi is lucky to have you.

 

[Dragon Hill]

That's a loaded question.

 

[Walt's Fault]

That's a loaded question.

Explain? Honest question, I've been seeing more and more adds from "reputable breeders" in my area for very young miniature horse and donkey that are ready to ride. Before Yazhi I have only dealt with the full size models.

 

[chandab]

Just like full-size horses, minis (if big enough when mature to ride) should not be backed before like 3 years old, older is probably better; minis continue to grow til like 5-6 years old. Anyone advertising a young mini as ready to ride is just trying to make a buck and IMO very dishonest.

 

[LostandFound]

Oh boy. Well that doesn't even look like an 8 month old mini to me.

 

[Abby P]

Just curious LF, does it look older or younger to you? I would say older since the mane is quite long. It doesn't look like less than a yearling to me, for sure, but I have not been around many baby minis!

Could there be a language issue in these ads you're seeing?

 

[LostandFound]

Older to me. The longer mane and tail, plus not really being built like a baby. You can't always tell, but I'd have doubts. A language issue was actually the first thing I thought.

 

[Walt's Fault]

I thought about the language issues and called them today. My Spanish is rusty but one was born May of 2021 and the other June of 2021. They do have older but most are under 2 years old. The pony parties they do are meant for 3-4 year olds so my thought is they try to keep the smallest ponies. Still don't agree with.

 

[Walt's Fault]

Did not know if the one in the picture is the one we talked about because they have several paint minis.

 

[chandab]

Pony pictured, definitely looks adult, how old, no idea; but older than yearling.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

My minis are ALL way too small to ride!!! You can still have a “party pony” and not ride them

Agreed

 

[rgsiiiya]

A good general principle to follow:
"a horse is a horse is a horse"

Our minis may be over-the-top cute...but they are still horses!

So, in general, we would follow the same practices as for the big boys.
Specific to this question, a horse is considered a 'youth' until 2 to 2.5 years old, and is generally not ridden until then (with exceptions of course).

Note they can still do things before then!!! We would saddle them frequently after they were full height and take them for walks. Also put some small saddle bags on and deliver Christmas presents to neighbors and candy to neighbor kids and parade watchers. They've been in the county fair parade every year of their lives since they were 1

I raised my 2 mini-boys since they were 6 months old.
Trained them under saddle, barrel patterns, etc. all before they were 2. So they knew what to do. But didn't put a rider on them until they were 3 (they were that old when my grandkids came next )

 

[HersheyMint]

I thought about the language issues and called them today. My Spanish is rusty but one was born May of 2021 and the other June of 2021. They do have older but most are under 2 years old. The pony parties they do are meant for 3-4 year olds so my thought is they try to keep the smallest ponies. Still don't agree with.

Walt's fault
That was nice you called and talked to the sellers to try and get their intentions. I don't agree with it either