| A miniature horse eats little, will fit into a small area, and take fewer resources, yet retains the beauty, elegance and nobility of their larger cousins. |
| Miniature horses are strong enough to easily pull an adult in a cart, and small children can ride them. They have a fondness for people, require less pasture and living space and they seldom need shoes. They're smart and have wonderful, calm personalities. Some buyers let them stay in the house. Others let them romp in the backyard with the family dog. People with disabilities have been buying them as fast as they are born; as guides for the blind, to calm children with autism, and give hope to cancer victims. They especially love people, become attached to their owners, and are very easy to train. Senior citizens find them to be great companions and easy to handle. Anyone from the age of 3 and up can work with them. They are wonderful to interact with, and they will keep your backyard grass short. Also called a mini horse, they are big business. Recognition of their versatility and expanded uses have caused the demand for these beautiful, tiny, but willing animals to skyrocket. Small Business Magazine stated that the miniature horse enterprise is a business that can withstand recession, can respond to small yards and busy families, and the startup costs are small. We'll show you how to develop your own herd, provide them with the best care, guard them from poisonous plants, identify common diseases and treatments, and a brief history showing the genetic origins which shaped today's mini horse. |
| THE MINIATURE HORSE Barns, Care, Breeding & Health |
| Above: A standard size horse is running with a mini horse. |
PREVENTION IS THE BEST MEDICINE FOR THE HEALTH OF YOUR MINI HORSE The Most Important Things: 1) Provide him with a "HEALTY" MINI HORSE BARN 2) Follow a vaccination schedule and have veterinarian checkups 3) Learn how to identify the symptoms of illness and how to prevent them "BABY ITS COLD OUTSIDE" Does your mini need a warm barn in the winter? YES! Miniature horses that have good breeding can withstand cold weather. However, it's important to know that just as harsh or stressful weather conditions make people more susceptible to infectious disease, the immune systems of our beloved miniature horses can become compromised by the stress of cold wet weather conditions. A warm, dry horse barn will keep them healthy Stress actually lowers the number of T cells in the blood which are lymphocytes created by the immune system. T cells are the number one fighter of infection in the body. If bacteria or viruses get inside the body T cells will lock onto and destroy them, while multiplying additional T-cells to find and remove all infectious organisms. Studies have shown that stress reduces these natural disease fighters. HEALTHY MINI HORSE BARN: POOR BARN VENTILATION CAN KILL In the cold of winter it is important to try to keep your mini horse snug and warm, as you do for the other family members. It is equally important to keep fresh air circulating in a miniature horse barn. Most are unaware that poor ventilation in the mini's barn can have a devastating impact on his health. It is essential to have the proper design in a small building to keep fresh air flowing. Manure and urine give off ammonia gases that erode the airway linings of your beautiful mini reducing the defensive cells that normally block disease organisms from entering his respiratory system. A poorly designed barn can create a wide variety of respiratory disorders, some resulting in death. WHAT IS A "HEALTHY" MINIATURE HORSE BARN? A healthy mini horse barn is designed to provide warmth and air circulation patterns that keep toxic air from developing inside his stall. Our design is scientifically formulated to foster air circulation when inclement weather keeps him inside with his windows closed. Here are the main factors (some will be kept secret until they are fully patented): 1) Our miniature horse barns have windows on three sides to increase ventilation and airflow, whereas air is stagnant in other types of small horse barns. You can open the windows a little or a lot. 2) All of our small horse barns have “Dutch doors” to provide the best fresh air flow, because you can open the top door to allow outside fresh air in, while keeping your mini horse warm in winter and safe from nightly predators all year. See our Healthy Miniature Horse Barns 3) The height and vents of our small barns provides for open air circulation in the pitch of the roof. Keeping large circulating volumes of air above your mini which flow out through properly placed vents prevents ammonia buildup. Ammonia gas develops in all animal manure and urine. Research by veterinary scientists have shown that even low levels of ammonia from a small amount of urine can stress a horses airway linings, placing them at risk to developing pneumonia or heaves, the asthma-like chronic condition. Your foal is especially vulnerable to the effect ammonia has on the respiratory system. If infection does overwhelm your horse’s immune system, he may become lethargic, have no appetite, become feverish, and display nasal discharge and/or a cough. Mini Horse Care for common diseases. Our miniature horse barns are designed to allow you to open the top of the Dutch door and both windows to allow greater circulation of fresh air to reduce ammonia levels, providing safe air and preventing pneumonia in miniature horses as well as other farm animals. For information on Respiratory Infections. The risk of respiratory infection is reduced even in harsh weather. Your mini can remain stress-free with the Dutch doors and windows closed, while the vents remove ammonia gases from urine buildup. VACCINATIONS- CHECKUPS-DISEASE SYMPTOMS-POISONOUS PLANTS Most diseases and infections can be prevented by keeping his immune system at its peak through a regular vaccination schedule, a "healthy" miniature horse barn, veterinary checkups and by feeding him properly. Click "Care Overview" to see detailed information on these topics. Poisonous Plants Can Kill- To know what they look like see Poisonous Plants. If a toxic plant makes your mini horse terribly ill, you and your vet will quickly figure this out. But, there are many common toxic plants that merely reduce the health of your mini and make him more susceptible to disease. It is far better to check the pasture and remove plants and trees that can be harmful to animal health. Detailed information is provided that will help you learn to identify the basic symptoms of respiratory, gastrointestinal, urinary and other disease conditions. See Vaccinations: "Keeping Your Mini Horse Healthy" to learn how to prevent common disease conditions through a regular vaccination schedule. Vaccination, poisonous plant removal, a healthy barn and sanitary practices can prevent disease. FUN INFORMATION Horse breeders have noticed that a horse with a pinto coat color sells at a much higher price, if the other desirable traits are also present. Experienced breeders have also noticed that their pintos tend to pass their coat color to their offspring at a higher rate. Research scientists took a look at this phenomena and discovered interesting facts you will want to know. Why Does a Minature Horse With Pinto Coat Color Throw Pinto Offspring At A Higher Rate Than Do Parents With Other Coat Colors? The answer is in the genes. Scientific Fact: The pinto coat color pattern is controlled by a dominate gene. This is why when you breed a horse that is pure pinto to a mini with a solid color most offspring will appear pinto, although they will be hybrid or mixed for the pinto coat color gene. But, there is another genetic phenomena which can help you produce 100% pintos. (Please breed pintos with the best conformation and personality) Research Fact: Scientists found that the pinto color (also called tobiano), is associated with an inversion of a large chromosome near the KIT gene. This inversion has an effect on the function of the KIT gene causing “paw prints” or splashes of color to appear in the white areas of a pinto‘s coat. KIT definition: it is a multipurpose gene that is essential to the function of the coat color genes. Researchers at the University of Kentucky determined that the gene inversion effect on the KIT gene was linked to the tobiano pinto coat color in horses (including mini horses). They discovered that a pinto with the “Paw Print” or splashes of color in the white areas of their coat were genetically pure pintos, and they had the gene inversion effect. Conclusion: Pintos with paw-prints are pure for the pinto coat color gene. So, if your tobiano colored horse is a pinto with “Paw Prints,” as seen in the photos above, its most likely a pure pinto and will always have pinto offspring as shown below. Pure Pinto bred to a Pure Pinto= 100% of offspring are pure pinto. Pure Pinto bred to a solid color= 100% of offspring appear pinto. Pinto Mix bred to a Pure Pinto= 100% of offspring appear pinto. Pinto Mix bred to a solid color= 50% of offspring appear pinto and 50% are solid. Pinto Mix bred to a Pinto Mix= 75% of offspring appear pinto and 25% are solid color. However, if you want to be certain, the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, will test the DNA of your pinto for $25 to see if it has the gene inversion effect. All they need is 30-50 hairs with intact roots (hair pulled out of the skin). The results come in 5-10 working days. Here is the link to the form: UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory Scientific Fact: Scientists who have studied coat colors in horses have found many color patterns are associated with genetic malformations. Happily, the pinto color is not! This genetic phenomena of passing the pinto coat color on was noticed by the developer of the Falabella breed of horse in the 1800s. BREEDING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINIATURE HORSE Understanding what went into the gene pool of the miniature horse and how it was developed is important when breeding today's mini horse. See Standards for breeding the best miniature horses. The Falabella breed was developed in Argentina and imported into California in 1962. Most of our current stock of mini horses in the U.S. have Falabella blood. Falabellas began in 1845, when Irishman Patrick Newtall traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina where he discovered a herd of unusually small horses grazing among the meadow lands. The Pampas Indians who had them could not be precise about their origin. The mini horse had lived among their herds of Croillo horses for years. Newtall acquired several of these small horses from the Indians and began a breeding program at his Argentian ranch. His son-in-law, Juan Falabella, later joined him and improved the breeding program. Juan added Shetland pony specimens (See Development of the Shetland Horse below), from England and European Thoroughbred blood lines to the family breeding stock. Called Falabellas, they now had the refinement and beauty we have come to love in today's miniature horse with enough traits to set them apart from pure Shetlands. At the turn of the century, through successive crossings Juan Falabella was able to develop a very small, sturdy horse of good, refined conformation with heights under 33.5 inches. By 1927, Newtall's great grandson, Julio Falabella, had a herd of several hundred horses all descended from his grandfather's heard. He later gained considerable publicity when he sold a pair of Falabella horses to President Kennedy's family. John Aleno owned a farm adjoining Falabella's ranch. He began noticing these tiny, flashy horses prancing in the meadow and became good friends with Julio Falabella. In 1900, Aleno persuaded Julio to sell him a few mini horses and he developed his own herd of smaller, flashy falabella horses. Aleno's mini horse line would become even more popular because of its tiny size. Children loved the refined, fancy, tiny horse whose genetic traits had come from Pampas Indian stock, thorobreds and Shetlands. In 1962, John Aleno sold 12 of his beautiful stallions to the Regina Winery in Etiwanda, California. The winery was interested in the minis as a promotional gimmick. Nearly all U.S. Falabella horses descend from these 12 California stallions, and most American minis have some Falabella blood. Among the mini horses imported into California for the winery was a Falabella stallion named "Chianti." This magnificent leopard appaloosa stallion became one of the most famous stallions in the country, and his name is found on the pedigree of a large number of horses today. The Regina Winery used the team of Falabella mini stallions to advertise their brand of wine. These beautiful mini stallions pulled a stagecoach in parades bearing the Winery’s crest. You can see them in the photo above. This spotted mini horse team from Etiwanda were seen in many parades across California pulling the scaled down stagecoach. When not prancing in parades the mini stagecoach and the tiny horses could be seen by all visitors who came to the winery. They were paraded as main events in shows and fairs, such as the Tournament of Roses, Pasadena, CA, The National Orange Show in San Bernardino, CA, and the California State Fair in Sacramento, CA., becoming a favorite breed type for California miniature horse ranchers, today. When Aleno died, a bank took over his mini horse herd as part of the estate. They were subsequently sold to a Mr. Fuller who had 600 acres of land in Running Springs, California. Fuller had the idea of turning his land into a recreation area, incorporating these tiny horses into the park. Unfortunately, some barriers were encountered when permission was needed to build an access road across government land. Their dream of having a recreational park was impossible, so the Fullers sold their pure Falabella horse herd, which was dispersed across the U.S. The Development of the Shetland Horse Shetland horses were purposely being bred small in Europe from 1600 to 1800. European nobility had their stable managers cross the smallest mini horses together and gave them as a gift to children. Conversely, the largest horses were crossed with each other during the Crusades, when battle needs called for animals that could haul armored men with heavy weapons. During the famines and great wars in Europe, the mini horse almost disappeared and historians have suggested that they were eaten. To make matters worse for the breed's future, with his large cavalry in mind King Henry VIII of England ordered all stallions standing less than 14 hands high to be destroyed. Those that survived were hidden by their caretakers. Eventually the mini horse resurfaced in the company of gypsies and traveling circus people who needed them for work. There were two different types: the refined type with slender long legs, delicate heads, and long necks; and the smaller draft horse type that were stockier and broader with shorter necks. The stockier horse was preserved and used in coal mines in England. Later, they were imported into West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio where their size and strength made them ideal for work in mines with low ceilings. They continued to use them in the mines of the southern states up to the 1950s. It is believed that the Shetland is the product of nearly 400 years of purposely selecting the smallest and strongest horse among already small breeds, such as the English and Dutch mine horses. Although miniature horses today have little resemblance to a Shetland, they undeniably have Shetland ancestry. The Shetland horse is properly referred to as a miniature horse, and not a pony, because of their proportions, character and size. And they are smaller than pony breeds. What We Know Of Their Recorded History In America, many early purchases and breeding records of Falabella and Sheltland horses were not carefully documented and accurate accounts of pedigrees were not maintained by most breeders until 1945. In Europe, the recorded history of these small horses goes back to the Renaissance. They have even been found buried in tombs with the Egyptian Pharaohs. French Empress Eugenie, Napolean's wife, enjoyed having her small carriage pulled by a mini horse. Most Royal European palace children had a tiny horse to play with. During the l700s in England, these small horses performed in traveling circuses. At Astley’s Circus, a mini horse about 3-feet tall became popular for its mind-reading tricks. The first recorded mention of tiny horses being imported into the United States was in 1888, when a single horse out of 140 Shetlands turned out to be the famous, 31-inch mini horse called Yum Yum. What We Know About The Shetland Horse in Scotland & The U.S. The Shetland horse originated in the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland. One of the most popular mini horses today, the Shetland resembles a draft horse. It had long been used for working in mines and pulling carts. As more efficient methods were invented for doing this work, their gentle disposition and small stature made them a favorite mount for children. Its official size is less than 46 inches high, but some Shetlands are scarcely more than 24 inches. The coat is long and shaggy, especially in winter and may be any color, although many have beautiful dark and white patches. Shetland horses were originally genetically bred and used in England for ploughing and carrying peat. However, after England finally banned children from working in coal mines in 1847, thousands of Shetlands were exported to mainland Britain to work as "pit ponies". They were ideally suited to the work because of their great strength and small stature, which enabled them to pull coal trucks through low tunnels. This stockier type of horse was imported into the United States from England to be used in the coal mines of Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. They were used in mining until 1950, because of their strength and small size which enabled them to easily fit into the tunnels of the southern mines. In the early 1900s, Norman Fields of Bedford, Virginia had started buying pit ponies from Europe for a coal mine in the Appalachian Mountains. Fields began to notice an occasional tiny horse among his herd. He began weeding out the largest, which enabled him to develop a herd of very small Shetland horses. By 1964, he had 50 small horses in this herd of tiny Shetlands, but most of them never left the forest near his Virgina home. He imported, bred, and raised them for 53 years. Some of these tiny Shetlands began to drift into other herds influencing the gene pool. There was not much public awareness of the true miniature horse during the years preceding 1960, but a few dwarfs became known, such as 23-inch Tom Thumb and a 26-inch mare called Cactus, as well as a few carnival freak-type small horses. It was after 1960 when the Falabella breed began to excite children and their doting parents, that the rightful recognition of the beautiful mini horse began to develop. Copyright 2010. References Baxter, K. Breeding Miniature Horses & Shetland Ponies. 2011. Frankeny, R. L. Miniature Horses: A Veterinary Guide for Owners & Breeders. 2008. Naviaux, B. Miniature Horses: Their Care, Breeding And Coat Colors. 1999. 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| Miniature Horses of the Regina Winery, Etiwanda, California Pulling a Stagecoach |
| Both of these pintos are pure genetically for the pinto coat color. Notice the color splashes in the white areas. Some pintos have a smaller splash as seen at right, but they are also pure for the pinto gene. |
