Would like opinions on 30" and Under horses

[StarRidgeAcres]

Hi Gang!

Those that know me know I prefer the 30" and Under horse - regardless of sex. I have my personal opinions about how I think the quality of the tinier horse is getting better. To my eye, when I look at websites, magazines, etc and I see tiny (but mature) horses from 20, 10 or even 5 years ago, I see an improvement in the quality of what I see today. Of course, "quality" is very subjective. To me, a "quality" horse of any height has good proportion, has freedom of movement, a certain tailset, a certain head and a certain neckset. I realize everyone has a different opinion or vision of what quality means.

Some of the things my eye sees as an improvement over the years would be a better leg-to-length-of-body ratio. shorter backs in general, a more "refined" look to the legs, head and body, finer muzzles (just less clunky heads in general), better croups (better to me means flatter, without that "fall-off"). deeper hips, better angulation to the shoulder and necks that tie in higher.

So, since I prefer to look out in my pasture and see tiny horses, I also prefer to breed and show tiny horses!

I am acutely aware of the issues (both real and perceived) of breeding tinier mares so I totally get why some people would say it's just not for them. But when it comes to showing, I do not understand why the 28" and Under and the 28-30" classes have the fewest (generally) entries in them. Is it because if you aren't going to breed a horse, why pay to promote it? I don't know and don't mean to put words in anyone's mouth, but I'd really like some insight into this subject.

Personally, I would be THRILLED to see 10+ enties in these classes at World or Nationals!

Please feel free to take the poll; it's my first so it may not be the most logical!

But also, please share your thoughts and opinions here in the thread.

Thanks in advance for your time!!

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Parmela -- will the poll let you edit it to add another option under the showing question to say N/A ? Because if you don't fill in an answer to every question -- it won't allow you to vote. And if some people don't show, they can't by-pass the question???

Thanks Diane! Great catch.

 

[targetsmom]

I agree with Diane about the lack of options for those that don't show and hope you can edit the choices.

We breed for performance/driving horses so aim for taller A minis, preferably 32-34". But I really admire those who are breeding for the most perfect 30" and under mini. And I do think the quality of the smaller minis is improving all the time. Great job some of you breeders are doing!!

 

[minimomNC]

You know I love the tiny ones, the only reason we have shetlands is thats what Samantha wants to show. I still have my 29" mare and her colt will stay under 30" and will be awesome in those classes. Plus having the amateur classes for the 30" & under is great. My stallion is World Champion 30" & under as a yearling. I just love them small.

This is my 29" mare with her yearling colt, he will stay under 30" as well.

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

I agree with Diane about the lack of options for those that don't show and hope you can edit the choices.

We breed for performance/driving horses so aim for taller A minis, preferably 32-34". But I really admire those who are breeding for the most perfect 30" and under mini. And I do think the quality of the smaller minis is improving all the time. Great job some of you breeders are doing!!

Mary, I can understand your stance since you like performance classes in addition to halter. Just wanted to point out the current cover of the MHW has a tiny boy (I believe he's 30 or under) and he's quite the jumper! Also, doesn't AMHR offer a class at Nationals for the 30 and Under driving horse - all disciplines I think. But possibly, like with some halter classes, the local shows may not offer that specific class.

I've added the NA option, so hopefully that will help. Thanks for your time!

 

[Songcatcher]

I LOVE the under 30 inch horses. I got into Miniatures because I wanted the smallest horses I could get, not the largest horses that could qualify as a Miniature. It took me a while to get the under 30 inch horses, but I have been able to get several over the years. I haven't acquired any under 28 YET, but hope to. Not entirely sure how I would feel about breeding an under 28 inch mare as I have not faced that situation yet.

Here are my current horses that are 30 inches or under:

McSperitts Rowdy Night Image, 29 inches

Ross Neck Feathers Little Noah, 29.5 inches

Bear Farms Nu Genes, 30 inches

White Diamonds Angel Eyes, 29.5 inches

Bear Farms Scholars Bright Side (a.k.a. Tiny), 29.5 inches

and Painted Arrows Black Dove, 29.5 inches

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

We have/had small under 30" horses, but we like to drive our showhorses. Being a rather large, tall woman I look really stupid driving a small horse, so I stick to my large A and B sized horses.

We have a 30" stallion right now that drives and jumps anything you point him at. He's been sold and will be a youth gelding and be USED. He's wasted here...

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

McSperitts Rowdy Night Image, 29 inches

Freeland, one of my favorite stallions! Such beauty. And that's the neckset I'm taking about!!!

This is Tompkins Silverado -- 28 1/2 " and 23 years young

Diane,

Being a fan of GMB, Silverado has always caught my eye. You just happened to snatch him up before I could plead my case!

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

This is my 29" mare with her yearling colt, he will stay under 30" as well.

View attachment 3132

Karen, Initially the pic didn't show up for me, but I can see it now!

Wowzer, both the mare AND the colt are gorgeous! That colt looks to have a stunning head.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

I answered that I love all heights. This is because while we mainly want to breed the smaller horses, I still find it extremely fun to show in the performance classes and I just feel more comfortable driving a horse that is 32-34" tall. I feel that there are plenty of smaller horses that could be competitive driving, I know a lot of ours have excellent action, but just dont like the feeling that I am bigger than the animal pulling me around LOL!!! We do breed our 30" and under horses but we are selective on who we will breed the mares to so that the foals wont be too big or too thick. We also show our smaller horses and have been doing extremely well even against taller horses. The quality of the under 30" horses is greatly improved and it is amazing just how nice of smaller ones you can find now!

This is a filly born this year that will mature in the 28-30" range and she was Reserve Champion Jr Mare at the show we took her to this year, the judge commented that she couldnt believe how nice she was being that small!

And her sire is our 30" buckskin pinto son of Alvadars Double Destiny, Arions Destinys Magic Trick.

And we have a son of LK Buck Echo who is around 29", COH Echo Express.

Maple Hollows Magic Moment is one of our show string that has been doing well in the AMHA and AMHR shows and she is 29".

Just an example of some of ours.

 

[valshingle]

I didn't see an option for: No, I don't own any 30" and under.

I have nothing against the 30" and under horses or the people who enjoy them. Some of the horses are quite nice. They just aren't 'my thing'. If I did have any, I would not breed the mares.

Just my opinion, not wanting to start a war.

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

What a beauty!

I didn't see an option for: No, I don't own any 30" and under.

I have nothing against the 30" and under horses or the people who enjoy them. Some of the horses are quite nice. They just aren't 'my thing'. If I did have any, I would not breed the mares.

Just my opinion, not wanting to start a war.

Good catch! I added the option. And no war talk from me! I totally get why people have preferences for the taller ones.

 

[ohmt]

I have a 27.25" LK Supreme Dream son that is absolutely stunning. He is actually a friend's but has been living with us a few years as she got out of the minis but just couldn't part with this little guy. I offered to hold onto him for a little while to help her out and had no idea just what she was sending me. I think he is fabulous. I have A size and B size horses and love them all. I showed this Supreme Dream son in two shows in the 28" and under classes and both shows he was the only entry. I did no conditioning before his shows or these pictures-pulled straight from the pasture. This little guys movement is amazing for his size and he puts that tail up and floats. I love it.

I have quite a few 28"-30" mares that are gorgeous and give me beautiful foals. I have no more problems with them foaling than my taller mares. Actually, going through my books I have less problems. The filly in my display picture is out of a 28.5" mare and she's one of the best foals we've produced. We have another filly this year who will mature about 28" and she is pretty nice too. I will be showing her next year

This isn't a very good picture of her, but you can kind of see her good proportions for her dimunitive size. Her dam is just 28" for comparison.

Looking at the World and National Champions over the years in the 28" and under division, I definitely see an increase in quality. I see more and more people breeding better 30" and under horses. I think it's just so hard to get that tiny size in a package that can compete with the big guys too so people forget about them. I am still working on it though

i've got a few 28"-29" daughters of my FWF Little Wardance son hopefully in foal to the stallion pictured above for next year. Should be some excellent 28" and under show foals in the making. I'm already excited to see if they're as nice as I hope!

 

[ohmt]

Excuse any typos I made my post-i'm using my phone which makes typing and spotting errors difficult.

 

[chandab]

Maple Hollows Magic Moment is one of our show string that has been doing well in the AMHA and AMHR shows and she is 29".

She's quite stunning. And, in this picture looks a bit like a carousel horse with all her hooves off the ground, just add the pole.

 

[Wings]

I went with 'no opinion' on the last question but I guess that isn't really true. I have seen horses in that height range of quality but I like my minis leggy and so half my herd is small horse! So with that said most of the minis that appeal to me are tall, leggy and with big movement. But that's no to say the smaller height range has anything wrong it just is less likely to catch my eye. Certainly if I find one that does it will be coming home!

 

[SampleMM]

I love my 28" little mare and I did have her shown and she did well............in her little class, but she always got overlooked in the Grands. I really prefer 32". They are tall enough to go in and win Grand and Supreme.

 

[LindaL]

I used to own a few under 30" horses and loved them. One was a 28" gelding and the other was a 30.25" mare. I showed both of them. I never foaled out the mare (I bred her and sold her in foal), but she had several foals with no problems.

When I got back into the horses, I decided to concentrate on taller horses (even tho I do own some that are under 34"). I prefer the B size horses. I don't think I will buy any under 30" horses again and for sure won't be breeding any (too afraid to). Just personal preference.

That being said...I also voted that I think that the quality of the under 30" horses has greatly improved over time. I am impressed with the horses I have seen at shows and in pics. They actually LOOK like horses now, not tiny ponies with big heads and stumpy legs.

I also do wish there were more under 30" horses at the shows...and that they were competitive against the taller horses, but not the "trend".

Kind of funny...when I first started in the Minis back in 1994 in the NW, there were hardly any AMHR horses around and the big club was an AMHA club. All the big breeders were "against" the B sized horses...and certainly no one wanted to breed to a B sized stallion! (I had one that was GORGEOUS, but ended up gelding him because there were no mares for him). Now, almost all the breeders/trainers in the NW have/train B's and are very active in the AMHR shows...

I am glad that there are enough breeders that do prefer under 30" horses, because it keeps the "miniature" in the Minis, if that makes sense...lol

 

[Genie]

We also love the 30 and under.

Kobecks Chief O Hatchee 28.5 inches and below his colt of 2011, Nixons Hill Poetry In Motion

O Hatchee has throws a very refined look.

We recently added Piddy Paddocks Glorihalylooya to our group and he is 30 inches and homozygous for tobiano. He throws beautiful foals and an especially pretty head.

 

[sfmini]

We prefer having the taller A horses since we drive and were actually disappointed in some of our foals a few years ago that just didn't mature tall enough. They are nice mares, but just too small for us so they will have to hit the road as they don't fit our program. Very happy with the foals by SF Mahogany Bay this year as both are taller and more in line with what we are wanting for driving horses.

We have a 29 1/2 Bond Peppy Power son but when we cross him to the 32 - 33" mares, we get 32 - 33" super nice moving driving horses from him so we are happy with what he is producing.

As for the little bitty horses, to each their own, but I will stick with the taller horses based on personal preferences.