7 Things to Know BEFORE Buying a Miniature Horse

hey everybody my name is Karras and welcome back to my channel the horse next door today I'm doing another video talking about miniature horses and this video is 7 things that you should know before buying a miniature horse because a lot of people requested this video and I want to make it for you guys so [Music] if you guys happen to hear strange noises in the background that's probably my ducks or my dog or just general wildlife in the area so this video is seven things that you want to know before buying a miniature horse let's get straight into him so number one is that horses even manager horses can be expensive so one thing to know is that you will definitely spend less on feeding costs than you would with a standard sized horse because miniature horses obviously eat less than big horses do so you will save on feeding costs for one thing but a common misconception is that it will be drastically cheaper which it actually won't be because you still have to provide farrier care for your horse miniature horses are still horses and they still need their feet trim just like big horses and you'll still have to provide veterinarian care as well you know getting your horses vaccinated getting their Coggins tested all that fun stuff that basically costs about as much as it does for a big horse as it does for a little horse so miniature horses are still going to cost you even though they might cost a little bit less than the standard size works but it's really not gonna be all that much the second thing that you need to know is that miniature horses require training too miniature horses are not pets even though they are our pets in the sense that you know we love them and we doand the fact that you can't you can just leave it and not train it and it'll be fine it's not like your happy-go-lucky dog that's just gonna be fine if you don't train your miniature horse you couldn't have some problems and miniature horses can still be dangerous if they're untrained just like a big horse can be they still kick and all that fun stuff like that so you still need to train your miniature horse just like you would a big horse and miniature horses are dogs even though they're small they're still not dogs and so you still have to treat them like horse so you still want to do groundwork heart training or even a little bit of saddle training if you have you know a small three or five year old kid that wants to ride so the biggest thing to know is that miniature horse is still required training you can't just treat them like a pet and never teach them how to behave otherwise you end up with a really spoiled rotten annoying horse that nobody wants to be around the third thing that you should know is that miniature horses tend to be very spunky and mischievious and curious and they may require some different fencing than you're used to if you have big horses miniature horses are small and they can fit through tiny places and they can be known for being escape artists so make sure the hat you are properly fenced and nothing that a little horse can't get into and those sort of things because they can be quite mischievous so you have to be on the know-how for those all right number four is that minis can't do green grass particularly lush green grass or for any extended period amount of time miniature horses have a really hard time with starch and sugar and a lot of them are known to be insulin resistant so you have to be very very careful about about what kind of green grass that they're eating and how much pasture and turnout that they get they can't be turned out like normal horses which they can be turned out 24/7 a lot of them you really really got to be careful about watching how much your miniature horse is eating because a they can get really really fat really really quickly even my horse who I monitor his diet very very carefully is still rather round and pudgy even despite my best efforts so you really really got to stay on top of that and be careful about how much your miniature horse is eating and you got to try to keep their weight under control so that they don't become very over beasts very obese very overweight or obese that came out wrong but you guys get what I'm saying number five is that two miniature horses live 30 percent longer than large horses do normal sized horses so if you get a miniature you need to be thinking the long term don't just get a horse and not have a long term plan for it because that's not fair to the animal you want to make sure that you are thinking about how long this horse is gonna live and that you're going to be able to take care of it for the duration of its lifetime number six is that you need to be careful about putting miniature horses and big horses in the same pasture together while their horses and so they speak the same language and they understand a lot of things at horse big horses do in general to play you know kicking up their heels galloping around the pasture together can actually pose a danger to miniature horses just because they're so small you know one kick from a big horse to a miniature horse's head can kill it so you want to be very careful about putting big horses and minis together and if you do you know you just want to make sure you're monitoring and particularly not putting a miniature horse and that's my dog that just jumped on my lap make sure not to put a miniature horse in with a big horse that is particularly playful neither one of my horses are very playful so I can put them in the same posture together and I do on occasion but I also make sure to give them alone time in their own personal space as well as otherwise they get too grumpy together so you got to be careful about - so number seven is a little bit of facts about miniature horses to be classified as a miniature horse a horse needs to be under three feet tall and miniature horses are generally around 150 to 200 pounds and you might want to know where miniature horses came from and they were selectively bred to I think they originated in Europe a lot of Dutch England type area but miniature horses were really bred to work my dog's rolling around on my laps at the dorm oh yeah miniature horses were originally bred to work in coal mines they were selectively bred to be small and sturdy so that they could work in coal mines in small places and then they could you know haul the coal back and all that fun stuff so that's really where miniature horses came from but today they are known for being great driving animals and just general all-around fun pets you know there are also really great companion animals but most of us just you know we don't obviously don't use them in coal mines anymore but we just use them to have fun I know my little guy is so much fun to play with and if you guys haven't already seen videos of Scottie make sure to scroll back through my channel to find some fun stuff with my miniature horse Scottie he's four or five year old and he's chestnut and he has no markings he's just solid but he doesn't have a gorgeous flaxen main and it he needs to be in like a L'Oreal commercial or something like that anyway that is my video for today so if you guys enjoyed it and if you have any questions you know comment those down below and I'll try to answer as many as I can and don't forget to follow me on Instagram my account is at my horse next door and so you guys can go check that out and follow it and make sure to give this video a thumbs up and I will see you in my next one bye guys [Music] you [Music]

Channel: I'm Meandering

Views: 137,853

Keywords: mini horse, buying a mini horse, miniature horse, first horse, owning a horse, horse expenses, expensive, what to buy, getting a horse, pony, mini, miniature, my pony, little pony, know, help, first horse help

Id: Ruu2VkYxXhM

Length: 8min 27sec (507 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 20 2018