The amazing things people tell others

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Well our club hosted its first sanctioned A/R show this past weekend and I had a fantastic time. I came home exhausted on Sunday afterwards since I was both an exhibitor and a volunteer. No rest at all.

I met lots of great people and saw some old friends, got lots of new info and tips and am definitely hooked on showing One of my favorite things is to introduce new people to minis and I am always willing to stop and let someone get to know my horses and answer questions (unless I'm on my way into a class of course ) On the last day of the show I was standing with my yearling stallion (who took Grand Champion Yearling stallion ) when a couple of people approached and asked if they could pet him. The first woman starts stroking his neck and looks up and asks the standard question, "What's the difference between a mini and a pony?" and before I can open my mouth and say a word the other woman answers her, "Oh, a mini is finished growing and a pony is a baby yet." (Ponies are all young, they'll be horses when they finish growing." Well she went on in that vein for some time, pontificating with great firmness and she and her friend wandered off while she continued to tell her all she knew about horses and minis. I was left standing there with my jaw hanging open and a stupid look on my face lol. So next time you are asked be sure to explain to people that ponies are just babies and will soon grow and Minis of any age are all done growing LOL. I know I should have corrected her at least for her friends benefit but I was quite simply speechless

.

 

[Janis]

I had a breeder once tell me that her dwarfs were caused because she gave her mares vaccinations. She had quite a few dwarfs! Needless to say I didn't buy any horses from her. I was kinda new to minis, but I wasn't an idiot!

 

[Miniv]

Well, THAT'S a first!

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Haven't heard that "version" before, but it's a good one!!!

I had a weird one the other day. I contacted someone, via email, to inquire if they stood one of their stallions to outside mares and a piece of the respone I got was"

"You do know that (deleting stallion name for obvious reasons

) is the last living son of (also deleting this stallion's name) don't you?" What???

Granted, there are fewer every year, but he is one of 5 or 6 still living and I don't think the other owners would take kindly to people being told this guys owns the ONLY living son!

So, I played stupid and responded something like "OMG! I've been out of the loop! What a bad year it's been if (and I named them all!) have all died in such a short time."

He had no comment.

Either this guy is a total liar or whoever sold him the stallion filled him with a bunch of $%#@ and he didn't know any better. I'm inclined to think it's the former.

Geesh! What's WRONG with people???

 

[Indian*R*A*I*N*Dance]

AHAH yeah, i've heard that before... from my friend!

 

[backwoodsnanny]

Not at a show but recently I have had to change farriers only to find out that my old one whom I thought was doing right by my horses was leaving them way too long so that he would have to return sooner. Thats why we hired a farrier in the first place because we dont know alot about the angles etc but I had questioned the last one asking why he didnt take off more heel he said he couldnt because they would have sore feet after. Some of my horses who were done by the old farrier only 4 weeks ago have feet that look like it has been 8-10 weeks according to the new farrier. I was so upset that I got crying and the new farrier looked at me and told me to stop that then asked "Are you a farrier" I said no and he said isnt that why you called a professional . well yes but I trusted the first guy and he always was good with the horses I just feel like I havent done right by the kids. So far 9 out of 17 have been done and they all look so much better. Apparently my old farrier didnt leave them long enough to cause any of them a walking problem but dint take enough off either He was coming every 6 weeks and so will the new one til we get them all right then we will try to go to 8 weeks if we can. I just feel so bad. .

 

[PaintNminis]

OMG OH!

 

[jleonard]

We had a horse lose a shoe at a clinic and had to have the on site farrier put a new one on. He went off on a tangent about how the angles we all off, pulled out this tool he had for measuring angles and and took an hour to reset the shoe while telling us how amazing he was. The shoe fell off a week later and the foot looked horrible. I've learned the more self-riteous (sp) a person sounds, the more wrong they usually are!

 

[zoey829]

Yikes!! I will say when I was in the younger grades, they actually taught us that a pony was a baby horse. Up to the age of 13 I didnt know any better. I rember visiting my first farm at 13 and someone said oh that pony is so old. I said how can a pony be old??? That is when I realized...... So I learned 2 tings that day, that a pony is not a baby horse and that I will love these creatures forever, big or little

 

[Bonny]

I love when people think gaited means that the horse can move faster.....

 

[Windhaven]

A friend an I went to a backyard breeding farm once and they had dwarfs in one pen. When the lady showed us the dwarfs, I made the comment that she had a cute buckskin dwarf, and most of them were medium to severe. Well she quickly corrected me and said they were not dwarfs but perfect little midget horses. You could tell by her tone that there would be no way to change her mind about that either.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

OH! I love hearing these. Sometimes I can hardly believe the misinformation that goes around but in truth I am not always any one to talk. When we got into minis we were told that they eat VERY little (only sorta true ) and that it would take 10 minis to eat as much as a saddle horse.Well lets just say when my little ones started loosing weight I had to keep bumping up the feed and I have a couple of show horses that I'm pretty sure eat as much as any saddle horse I've owned yet lol. Live and learn I guess but some people have no wish to learn and won't accept being mistaken. zoey829 I can't believe you were taught that (well, I DO believe but am rather astounded) Must have been a bit surprising to hear about an 'old' pony hahaha

 

[zoey829]

You should have seen how shocked I was. I truely thought a pony was baby horse. Oh how I matured!!!

 

[Maxi'sMinis]

That's a riot. It does leave you speechless.

I have a funny one along those lines too.

Many years ago I had a QH mare that I had bought and then found out 10 months later that she was in foal.

I was telling a friend of mine that she was going to foal at any time now. They replied with a very knowlegeable air, well did she OVULATE yet?

 

[Cedar Ridge Farm]

OH!

WOW!!!

I have to add this one...

2 years ago I was at an open show. I was one of the few with a mini and was approached by this lady telling me all about her small stallion and how I should breed my mare to him. When I saw him later in the ring I could not believe that she was even showing him and that he was still a stallion. She came over to me and said, "Here's my little guy, (name omitted). Wouldn't that make tiny babies?" I looked her square in the eye and politely as possible said," I would rather not breed my horse to a dwarf." His bite was off, he had a huge hump in his back and big head and had no length. She said," oh, he's not a dwarf, he got hurt on the way day in the moving van" I bought him from up north and had him shipped to me. The things people believe.

 

[Sue_C.]

Yup, ignorance and misinformation abounds...even for those who do TRY to learn.

For example...I recall checking-out the book "Horses for Dummies" in the bookstore, only to read to my horror, that "Miniature Horses are the DWARVES of the Equine world".

 

[horseplay]

I have heard many people say that baby horses are ponies, I have also corrected many only to hear them repeat that baby horses are ponies OH! . In one ear and out the other I guess, doesn't seem that hard to understand to me

 

[Ouburgia]

I have these kinds of things often because my horses are boarded at a riding scool, so, a lot of children of corse (and they really know it all!)

* I was walking with my shetland mare... a few girls were watching.. The oldest; That's a nice horse! A younger one: That's not a horse, that's a pony! And the youngest: Noooo it's a foal! (in fact she was 11 at that time )

* My hafling mare was walking in the paddock with a palomino welsh mare. The owner of the welsh took the welsh out. A mum came to me: They are taking the foal away!!

* Last year my hafling had a foal wich I had to put down after 36 hours of life. The kid of a stablemate of mine (3 years old) was jumping in front of the stable "mummy, mummy, I want to see the baby!" "no" mummy said, "I told you, the baby was sick and is dead now"

On wich the kid looked sadly ad my horse "poor girl, now you got to start al over again"

 

[Jill]

The first time my parents saw my minis (years ago), my dad kept saying "They run just like horses!" OH! And they did run... they arrived here wild as can be... the minis, not my parents

 

[Suzie]

I will add mine...

We had a lady here visiting from the city last summer. We showed her the colts, the stallions and finally the geldings. She looked me straight in the eye and asked me how we knew which mares would be bred to produce geldings and which ones stallions. When I looked at her funny for a second, and then thought- she thinks they are BORN that way. Ha!!!! Too funny. I had to tactfully tell her we made that decision for the mares.