What direction are YOU heading in with your herd

[christina_ski]

I'm with alot of you, I just can't stand the selling. I get so attached to each and every personality and then trying to sell this is very stressfull. The few the I have been apart of knowing them and them being sold, I hated seeing where several wound up and just wanted to go and rescue them but couldn't. Or others have wound up in awesome homes, some even being shown. Its so hit and miss finding homes, I would rather keep my numbers down and just keep them around the rest of their lives or until that perfect home shows up.

That said, I do have one mare bred for next year. She is due the End of April/beginning of may. It was an accidentle breeding that was given the shot to get rid whenI caught the 2 together. But it all worked out, because the day I confirmed her in foal via Ultrasound was also the day the stallion died. So a bittersweet baby. I will be on pins and needles with this one as the mare in my opinion is way too young to be having a foal, and its also a maiden which in itself is oh so fun. But I will try and enjoy it as it will be my last one for a long time.

Anyone needs help with Marestare I am happy to help lol

 

[Sabrina]

my minis are mainly for my own sanity lol,

but in a couple years i may breed my little mare to my stud because they are both very important to me and i would like to have one of their foals to hold on to as my mare and stud get older. i will not be breeding to sell to the public too many minis up here that have found themselves in less than nice homes because their price was right and someone thought they could just throw them in the back yard and leave them there, the other day someone here was advertising minis for sale $100/horse or $600 if you took all seven. one stud , 3 mares , two foals. all unregistered and pretty wild from not being messed with. i am afraid they will be in someone elses back yard and breeding just because the price was right

. and i certainly don't wan want one of myequine family to end up that way.

 

[little lady]

I guess I'm the odd ball here. I am just getting into mini's. I purchased a mare that is in foal. I bought her for my grandsons and myself also. No big plans to go all out and raise them. I would possibly be interested in showing. Just going to take it slow and enjoy my first mini!!!

 

[PrestigeMiniHorses]

Well I ended up sending Skeeter back to the gal I got him back from and currently I am in the process of getting something else... But I plan to show. show . and show some more... of course once I am done being pregnant myself. LOL . I can't do too much of all that selling stuff esp if it were a home bred foal.... I see how much of a hard time it is for my good friend and I know I just can't do it... Someday but not anytime soon...

 

[Minxiesmom]

After 25 years away from horses, I am back! and I am back with a vengence! I plan to show, show, show! I can't get enough of it! The training, the nerves, the adrenalen, the clothes, the halters...everything. And!!!!! I have become addicted to driving. What a hoot!!!

This is our second year showing in Pinto and we are doing well and soon I will be able to announce my horse, Janal's Maximillion's, Pinto achievements. (It's verwy, verwy good!)

 

[sedeh]

After 25 years away from horses, I am back! and I am back with a vengence! I plan to show, show, show! I can't get enough of it! The training, the nerves, the adrenalen, the clothes, the halters...everything. And!!!!! I have become addicted to driving. What a hoot!!!
This is our second year showing in Pinto and we are doing well and soon I will be able to announce my horse, Janal's Maximillion's, Pinto achievements. (It's verwy, verwy good!)

She sure is!! I tell you.....this girl is heck on wheels!!

Diane started dabbling in Pinto last year and this year she's been going to all of the shows in Oregon with me...and beating my pants off!! Wait till next year girlfriend! I'll get this driving thing down yet!

Back to the question at hand! I absolutely love showing Pinto and have met the most wonderful friends there. Some I only get to see at the shows and others have overlapped into my "normal" life like Diane. So I will continue showing for sure. One of my big decisions this year was to take my colt Danny and I'm going to geld him and turn him into my "B" performance gelding. He will be trained to drive next year. I've been learning to drive with my little gelding Bubba...who has been doing very well in the showring considering he really isn't a halter horse! He does love to jump though and we've been middle of the road with our driving. He usually ends up in the top 5 awards so I'm pleased with that. One of my goals is to have an awesome "A" gelding that I have bred and trained. Since Pinto has both A and B divisions I'll be able to show Danny and ? at the same shows. I only have a small breeding herd and last year I had decided that I would start breeding half my mares at a time, so I'll only have 2 or 3 foals a year. I also have a very short breeding season since I'm trying to get all the foaling done before show season starts....so, if they don't take I may not have any foals some years....and that's okay too!! I really love these little guys and it is hard selling them!

 

[CharlesFamily]

Well, right now, I don't have a "herd" - just our B gelding Irish Hills Toys in the Attic. We are enjoying having him around and unfortunately were not able to get to any shows this year. But we are hoping to change that for next year! I bought him for my girls to show, so we've been working this summer on showmanship, jumping and halter obstacle. He doesn't it know it yet, but driving training is just around the corner!

This is my second venture into miniatures, after selling out when I started having my girls and they were small. I wasn't able to keep up with work, babies and horses! And while I do miss having some of the babies around, I don't miss the work of breeding and foaling - and definitely don't miss all of the hormones running around! I'm so excited to see "gelding" come up so many times in this thread. Ten years ago you couldn't find a miniature horse gelding. I see this as a HUGE advancement for our breed!

Barbara

 

[PrestigeMiniHorses]

I love to hear about people coming back into the breed after taking some time off... I think this breed is just great.....

 

[Taylor Jo]

I plan on showing again this year my 4 mini's and HOPEFULLY in Oct sending my mare who's 3 to driving training. However, it does depend on funds. After buying a biggy it's sorta put a crunch in the ole budget. IF I have the money I will show her in halter too. Hopefully though, I'll have 2 mini's to drive and 3 in halter. I'm still considering breeding my mare who's 3 but the more I think about it she's just 3 so I may put it off for a couple of years as she is my show horse and I'd hate to have her out of commission especially if I'm going to invest the money into driving also. The boy's are going to be going into the 2 year old class but they still act like yearlings, so that should be interesting. I'm anxious to see how my gelding does now that I'm training him with sliding side reins and trotting poles and when I get his new cart. I'm looking forward to next year, can't wait, but guess I'll have too. TJ

 

[JennyB]

Jenny

:modedit:

please. Once again. NO sales of any kind!

 

[Joanne]

We are staying on track. I LOVE breeding and seeing the outcome of the foals. We are very select on which stallion we breed to which mare and do not breed every mare every year.

We are thrilled with the quality we are producing and happy that many of these horses go to show and future breeding homes, both nationally and internationally.

We are dedicated to improving the miniature horse breed.

We see the current market as a opportunity to acquire some horses that may not have been available previously. We will continue to improve our breeding stock with outside horses.

 

[Lucky-C-Acres-Minis]

I made the decision to revamp our breeding program, getting out of the appies and purchased a new herdsire, gorgeous double registered black pinto with more "in" bloodlines.. We did expose 4 mares to him, 2 AMHA/AMHR and 2 AMHR, at this point the only one I believe to be in foal is one of the AMHA/AMHR mares, other three not sure as two of them were just covered for the first time.. IF the other three turn up open then more than likely all three will be left open since it's so late.. I *may* try to cover the other double registered mare again, but big MAY..

Also hoping to add another mare or two to our program, AMHA or AMHA/AMHR.. I've had a picture in my mind of what I'm wanting, just haven't found her yet..

Hoping things at work pick-up and I can get out and show at least the two boys I have.. Had hoped to get my feet wet this year, but some cutbacks at work prevented it.. Wouldn't mind finding some in Ohio to show my coming 2 year old, think he'll kick butt

 

[Leeana]

I will be switching things up a bit for next year as we are going straight aspc shetland and most of what i will be showing next year will be shetlands with the expection of an R colt from this year and two year old filly that I am going to let my nephew show next year as "his" horse. I have a very clear idea of what i want on my shetland string and program and cannot wait for it to all come together eventually as for as the breeding side goes however I have more then enough time.

 

[Charlotte]

We got our first mini in '91. Just for a pet....

:OKinteresting After 20+ years of Arabs and quarter horses we found ourselves miserable with no nickers in the early morning, no quiet hay munching late at night, no flagged tails and powerful beauty in the pasture. And NO BABIES ever again!

So De De Dinah came to live with us.

We breed and show and will untill the kids pack us off to 'the home'. We've stuck with the advice of an old quarter horse breeder......."Find the best stallion you can then breed him to better mares". It took us a few years to find that stallion but we finally got Cowboy then some years later Skipper. They are our foundation. Our mares are genetic treasures.

Now we are breeding Cowboy daughters to Skipper and have retained Skipper daughters to cross on Cowboy when they are old enough. All of the mares are show Champions, World/National Champions, TTs as were their dams before them. It just goes on and the foals just get better and better. It's so satisfying as a breeder to see your plans come to fruition........those of you who breed and have been for a number of years know what I'm talking about.

and those babies..........Where in this world can you get a bigger high than watching that tiny creature come alive before your eyes? Shaking those wet ears, raising the little head, struggling to make those darn long legs work the way instinct tells them to. We are blessed to have the privilege of caring for these wonderful creatures.

Charlotte

p.s. this has been an interesting subject. Not everyone wants to breed miniature horses, not everyone wants to show them, but they have a place in the lives of so many. Just goes to prove their versitility!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

The poor economic situation has forced many sell-outs, but as several of you have commented it's also an excellent excuse to acquire new horses!

I've had to smack my wrist more than a few times recently but can't help browsing the sale boards and local classifieds for that perfect horse.

If Kody weren't injured I'd probably be fine, but being without a driving horse during CDE season was killer. I want to DRIVE!! I need another gelding in Kody's size range, relatively young but ready to start, with good sporthorse conformation. Something I could show next year if Kody isn't better or just introduce to driving at home if he is. So what horses do I end up considering? A weanling pinto stallion and a yearling silver buckskin stallion!

Yes, perfect, that's exactly what I'm looking for...another couple of horses who can only stand around and eat for the next two or three years.

They can join my riding horse I can't ride and my driving horse I can't drive.

But one will be just what I wanted in an adult horse, and the other is well-bred, big-moving, sweet and inexpensive. Hard to argue with, that....

*sigh*

Oh, and I want to drive a pair. REALLY want to drive a pair. But am I adding horses that could work in that capacity? No. I think I'm in a holding pattern, economic stimulus or not.

Leia

Edited to add: Sorry, whichever mod edited me- didn't mean that to sound like a wanted ad. Not actually looking for a horse like that! Just pointing out what I should be looking for versus what I keep looking at.

 

[sugarboy]

Funny that you ask this question..

We have just decided to trim our little herd due to finnacial reasons and I dont know how many people are going to have the money to purchase the foals. I have decided to only bred back one of my mares for next year.

I'm hoping the market will come back but money is tight for everyone so I think it will effect us all to some degree

 

[targetsmom]

I find it interesting that most respondents on this thread are not selling out, but finding ways to enjoy the minis they have!

From a business perspective, it is hard for us to justfy breeding mares when it costs more to produce the foals than we could expect to get for them in this economy... Gives us pause anyway... But we are certainly thrilled with the one foal we have produced and aren't giving up!! I think the market will come around.

We have plenty of plans for the minis we have!!! We will continue to show our 5 year old mare Aloha Acres Fashion By Magic (Princess) at Pinto shows, aiming for her Supreme Pinto Championship. She already has her Legion of Merit and about 800 of the 1,000 points she needs. Just to make Leia jealous, I think we might start training our other black and white mare (same size, same stride) to drive and maybe someday have a nice driving pair! Our biggest mare "Fizz" is being trained to drive and should be hooked later this month. I would love to do more ADS (American Driving Society) events next year, like the Pleasure Driving Show we did last weekend and maybe even a CDE.

I plan to involve a couple of our minis in some therapy work with a non-profit group I am involved with. And I usually have a 4-H Club and/or a high school class come over to visit and see all the things minis can do.

And then there is Max, our 2009 foal, that we plan to show next year wherever we can!!! (AMHA/AMHR/PtHA)

 

[loveminis]

My minis are my pets so nothing changes for me.

I am happy to read that some people are cutting back on breeding.

 

[chandab]

The poor economic situation has forced many sell-outs, but as several of you have commented it's also an excellent excuse to acquire new horses!

I've had to smack my wrist more than a few times recently but can't help browsing the sale boards and local classifieds for that perfect horse.

Leia

I love looking at the sale boards and websites and would love to add another mini or two to my herd, but... My husband slaps my wrist for me and reminds me I have plenty (well, he thinks so anyway).

I found at least 6 mares that I would have loved to add to my herd this year, but he keeps me grounded; so it looks like the only ones I may be adding to the herd is the one I raised this year; I don't think I can part with her.

 

[JWC sr.]

Wow is all I can say, it seems most of the posts were negative when it comes to being able to sell the babies they produced this last year. That is indeed unfortunate for everyone. In that position I guess I would have to rethink our short ( 2 year plan ) and long range plans(5- 10 years). Thankfully we have not had that problem yet.

Our current plans are really about the same as last year.

1. Go thru the evaluation process of the breeding herd, adjust which mares go to which stallions and fine tune the breeding program in order to produce quality babies next year.

2. Geld all colts except the top 5% of the babies (if we feel they are stallion material and can compete on a national level)from this year and put them into homes where they will have a job.

3. Cull 10% of breeding herd, we do this every year. It keeps getting harder and harder to do, but is a necessity if you want to improve the herd as a whole.

4. Find and buy 3 more mares of the bloodlines, Type and quality we are looking for. We have already bought 2 this year and added them to the show string and future breeding herd.

5. Put three horses with trainers this coming year.

6. Will have 7 on the farms show string for us to fit and show.

7. Continue to market as heavily as possible. magazines, local parades, large horse venues and 4-H activities etc etc.

8. Stay involved with local club fund raisers and youth benefits so as to promote miniatures to the younger crowd.

9. Attend at least 10 shows next year, including AMHA, AMHR, PTHC and ASPC shows.

10. Hold some training seminars at the farm for youth & ammy's wanting to try out miniatures.

Continue to enjoy these little guys for all they are worth!!