[rlittlecritters]

I went camping this weekend with my parents and daughters. Came home Sunday to find a new "goat" in the field.

Sally--a large miniature horse

My 5 year old loves her and my almost 7 year old is still camping with Grandma & Grandpa. She will be thrilled since she has been wanting a horse forever.

Don't know much about horses myself, but my brother has owned them for years. He doesn't understand why you would want a horse that you can't ride.
Maybe someday we'll have some to ride. But this is a good way to start in my opinion since my girls are too little to take care of them themsleves, that leaves almost all the work for me.

 

[Haviris]

She's so pretty! How did you end up with her?

I'm possibly going to look at a palomino pinto mini next week, never had a mini before, but kind of excited about the idea!

 

[StaceyRosado]

she is pretty. I am with your brother though, I cant see the use for a mini :shrug:

I am sure your girls will find her fun.

 

[all1965]

Mini's can be trained to pull small carts. Also, if you have small kids they can support their weight.

 

[RunAround]

Yep, they pull carts. Mine is awesome at it and she can pull a lot more weigh than you would think she could. They are also great lawn mowers! :slapfloor:

 

[enjoytheride]

Besides, if you have a horse lover in the family, a mini needs no excuse. Stacey, I'm surprised that anyone who has PYGMIES for Pete's sake, would wonder about having a mini. lol Just think of them as slightly taller goaties.

 

[StaceyRosado]

sold the pygmies ---- reason one, they gave me nothing back besides kids. :shrug: Nigerians give me milk :greengrin:

I am not saying it is wrong for someone to have the mini horses I just dont understand it. :scratch: I guess I am nto enough of a horse lover, I just enjoy riding them

 

[rlittlecritters]

My husband bought her from someone that he works with.

The Pygmies don't keep the pastures down so we have to mow them once in awhile, maybe Sally can keep them down so we won't have to mow.

 

[StaceyRosado]

now thats a great purpose. I never would have thought of that , good idea :idea:

 

[cjpup]

I have a miniature donkey!! LOL! Im trying to teach her to drive a cart but was told I have to teach her to lunge on a line first.......I have never trained a horse in my life! I dont even know how to begin trainging her on the lunge :scratch: I taught her to halter and lead really easily but Im just not sure how to get her started on the line let alone on a cart/ground driving.

You knew pet is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! Are you keeping her in with your goats? She /may/ help keep preditors out of the pasture too.

 

[Hailee's Herd]

Awwwww!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Haviris]

I agree, who needs an excuss! Although I plan to train mine to pull a cart, the lady that has her is going to give me some lessons with hers.

Besides I have my full sized horse who's been sitting in the pasture nearly all year costing me money, yes he's big enough to ride, but what good is that when I can't find the time! But I could never imagine myself horseless, and mini's eat alot less!

 

[rlittlecritters]

You knew pet is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! Are you keeping her in with your goats? She /may/ help keep preditors out of the pasture too.

Yes, we are keeping her in with some of the goats. Just 4 or 5 for now. The other 15-16 are in another field. (I need to sell a few. 21 is too many. I wanted to stay at about 10. Like that is going to happen anytime soon. ) The third field is kept open for rotation purposes for now, but I will need all three during breeding and kidding time.

Haven't had any problems with preditors yet, although we can year coyotes at night, and an eagle did get my drake last summer when I still had ducks.

My other daughter came home from camping and is thrilled with Sally. Kept on asking to go out and see her and she didn't even get home until 5:00.

 

[Haviris]

I was actually alittle surpised that anyone here would question the purpose of a pet! How many here don't (or haven't) owned a pet just because they wanted it and enjoyed it? I have 3 wethers now, they don't do anything but eat, and I'm happy to let them! There are uses for minis, but I would say most are just kept as pets, and why not? Think of the life long horse lover that can no longer ride, but still likes having a horse around, minis eat alot less then full sized horses. I also think they are a great start for someone who wants to get into horses, but is alittle intimidated by the big ones.

Now I do plan to train mine to pull a cart (if I get her) and since she's a larger one (35 in.) I may buy her some tack and let the smallest kids learn to ride on her. As a horse crazy kid growing up I was lucky that my parents bought me a horse, but if they hadn't I would have killed for anything equine, even if it couldn't be ridden, actually I think I would have loved to have one even though I had a horse to ride! For a while I had a pony sized mule someone gave me, I just thought he was cute! Even though I had no use for him other then as a pet (and I think he was used as a roping dummy by a previous owner, sad), I did end up giving him to a little boy that didn't have anything to ride, it was a good fit, but I was sad to see him go.

 

[Di]

PLEASE! Make sure your little horse is goat friendly before they get together! One of my precious little doelings got into the horse pasture with our colt (2yr old mini) and was killed (don't know how it happened, just a horrible accident). The Cashmere goats are big enough to hold their own with the horses.

That said, my mini's are very canine aggressive. Haven't had a problem with the fox since I seperated them into the back 3 sections (the pastures nearest the woods). But, they don't tolerate our dogs either.

I love the mini horses. They help keep the Grandkids occupied when they visit. Makes it fun to go to Grandma's house!

 

[rlittlecritters]

She's been in with 4 to 5 goats (6 year old doe and her two 4 month old boys, a 4 year old wether, and part of the time a 1 year old wether) for almost a week now and doesn't mind them at all. (I think she was used to other animals.) The goats on the other hand were very scared of her at first. They appear to be getting a little more used to her.

I think I would have been hesitant to put her in with the younger ones, but since I wasn't home when my husband bought her, I couldn't say anything about it. They seem fine together.

The dog running along the fence also scares the goats, but doesn't bother the horse at all.

 

[liz]

She's really pretty....I was wanting to get a young one to "mow" what my mini goats don't ever since I saw the mini foals out the road from me...so wanted to stop and see them but theres never anyone around to ask....hubby says no because he doesn't think I have the room for a "horse"...though a min would fit right in!

 

[Haviris]

They really don't take much space, you just have to be careful because they are prone to founder. I don't own a mini yet, but I have a 12.2 hand pony, she is a very easy keeper and doesn't need alot of space, she lives year round in my main goat pen and always has plenty to eat, and she's alittle pudgy right now.

I missed the boat on the palomino pinto girl I was going to see, I was supposed to see her Sunday, but they sold her today, I was so disappointed. I'm still looking though!

 

[Di]

Even mini's take some space, and they are MUCH harder on the pastures then goats! I have seperate "paddocks" for them when it's really wet or in the spring when the grass gets that first burst of growth. I make sure they get hay first then small amounts of graze in the spring. It's OK now, and mine don't seem to gorge themselves. They look really good, sleek and just the right weight.

We just had our colt gelded. What an ordeal! We decided we wouldn't be breeding the girls for a couple of years, and it was a pain to have a stallion anyway. Since the horse market is so bad it just doesn't seem right to breed "just because you can". Besides, there is a horse farm not too far that has a 26.5" stallion, been shown and done well, so I'll probably just use him. As soon as "Dude" recuperates, he'll start serious training (Hubby says we'll have to change his name to "Dude-less") :slapfloor: . He will be a much happier gelding!