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Basic
Miniature Horse Care
How hard is
it to take care of a Miniature Horse? Not very! The cost of caring for a Mini
per year is very comparable to the cost of caring for a dog.
So what DOES
it take to care for a Miniature?
FEED:
Your new
Miniature, like any horse, loves to eat. Like any horse, they come in easy
keeper and hard keeper varieties, and everything in between. Horses were created
by God to forage for food, ie, pasture and hay. Humans have added grain to their
diets, which is good, as long as kept in balance. A good percentage of your
horses daily food intake should be forage stuffs, around 70%. If you are breeding, fescue
grass and hay should be avoided, altogether if possible. If not possible, bred
mares must be removed no later than day 300 (we prefer day 270) to avoid serious
foaling complications. If you are not breeding, fescue is not an issue. If you
have room to pasture your mini, they will eat one to two flakes of hay daily given morning and night
along with their grass, depending greatly on size and how big of eaters they
are. Three minis per 1 acre grazing is a safe ratio. If you will be keeping a mini in your back yard, you will need to keep hay available at all times or you
will soon have a dirt yard! We have used alfalfa, alfalfa/orchard grass mixes,
timothy, and straight orchard grass. Bred mares in the last trimester
desperately need higher protein to grow that foal and alfalfa is a great choice
at that time! Otherwise it can be a bit too strong for some mini horses,
resulting in diarrhea, and it does in general produce a stronger urine sent.
Alfalfa mixed with other hays though add essential protein to the diet,
without the runs. In years with a hay shortage alfalfa cubes can be successfully used, but be sure your mini eats them. Some seem to need them soaked to be able too as the cubes can be large! Alfalfa cubes soaked and beet pulp soaked mixed can also be a very good forage replacer. Our vet does not recommend MUCH beet pulp on younger, growing animals, but allows up to a 50/50 mix on mature horses with a good body condition score.
GRAINS:
We find a 12%
protein feed is good for maintanence. To much starch in a horses diet has been
proven to lead to health problems later in life such as thyroid and cushings, so
watch corn and sugar intake. High molasses content they love, just like kids
love candy, but it is equally bad for them! Moderation is a good thing! Oats do
not ferment like corn does, so it is much harder to founder a mini on oats. If you feed
straight oats, be sure to supplement with a good balanced vitamin/mineral
product such as Grostrong Minerals. Bred mares and many breeding stallions NEED
a HIGHER protein content, as do foals, weanlings, and yearlings. Most "Junior"
feeds are 16% protein and this is often sufficient for Miniatures.
SHELTER:
Mini's are
incredibly hardy little animals. No horse should be allowed to get wet though in
cold weather, and esp so if the wind is blowing. Horses create body heat by
eating, and hay/grass produces more body heat per pound than grains do. A run in
shelter for your fields or backyard is reasonably easy to build. We've
found if you have more than one, rounding the corners prevents anyone from being
cornered and beat up--yes, there is always an alpha horse, some more
aggressive about it than others. We do keep blankets for some of
our minis, but dont' use them unless it gets to 20 degrees or less. Older
horses and the very young have a much harder time with body heat.
If you have a mare due to foal before May, have a baby blanket on hand. If
you only have one or two, your run in can be built with stalls, or a gate
to close them in at night. As long as you have provision to keep them dry
when it's wet outside, you are pretty well set!
DAILY CARE:
We've found
most minis LOVE to be groomed. Many horses have one hoof they are
ticklish about. A well trained mini will never kick at you! Brushing daily is a
good way to get to know your mini and earn their trust, esp if you keep a
few treats handy at the time. If your lifestyle allows for once a week grooming,
don't be concerned. But they should be groomed at least once a week as this
gives you a time to go over the body thoroughly and be sure everything is as it
should be, and check your mare's milk bag development if she is in
foal. Feet should be picked out as often as you can do it though. The old adage,
'no hoof no horse' is as accurate for a mini as a riding horse. It takes less
than 5 minutes, so maybe make that portion of grooming part of bringing your
horse up for feed at night.
Mini's hoof
growth varies greatly and may need their hooves trimmed anywhere from
every 6-12 weeks. This typically runs $15-30 per head depending on what
part of the country you live in.
WORMING:
This is very
important for your horses, and very easy. Rotation of worming products prevents
immunity from developing. We rotate Ivermectin, Panacur/Safeguard, and Strongid
wormers, usually buying generic brands. A 250# dose is
correct for most 32" and under mini's, 500# for over that. These particular
wormers it is hard to overdose them on, so if you give a bit too much you
dont' have to worry. Worm every 6-8 weeks depending on how much room your horse
has to move around in, as they pick worms up while eating. Bots though are
gotten by licking eggs of the bot fly off their coats, or off each other,
when grooming with each other. These can only be killed by ivermectin, and it is
important to include ivermectin in your late fall worming program. Jeffers
Equine and Bloodline have the best prices we've seen on
wormers.
VACCINATIONS:
Foals
need to be vaccinated AFTER weaning. First vaccination at 5-6 months, with
a booster 2 weeks later.
INFLUENZA, EWV ENCEPH, & TETANUS:
Your vet
should have a good 4 or 5 way product, or if you know how to give shots yourself
they can be purchased through Jeffers or other vet supply companies.
Tetanus, E,W, V "sleeping sickness", and influenza are included in
these shots. This is the basic annual booster all horses
need. Our vet charges around $12 to give this. If you do it yourself it is
even less. There is a new nasal influenza vaccine now that is more
effective and less stress on the horses system.
STRANGLES:
Depending on
where you live and how much your horse leaves your property and # of
visitors you have, strangles can be a VERY important vaccine. The nasal
kind is much more effective, and about the same price. Strangles is
a nasty, horrid sickness. It is the same bacteria as strep throat
in humans--yes we can make them sick and vice versa. They too get a sore
throat, and the infection hopefully centers in the glands of the head/throat,
which will swell and burst and drain a thick pus for days which must constantly
be cleaned. I say hopefully as if it doesn't it is termed 'bastard strangles'
and some internal organ gets infected, and is often fatal. They tend to stop
eating when sick with it, which means you have lots of work reconditioning them
afterwords, as a horse can drop 10-50# a day (range of minis to full size)
but take considerably more time to regain and are in a weakened and vulnerable
state while doing so. Strangles can be carried on clothing, shoes,
feed bowls, buckets, halters, leads, gloves, hats...you get the idea. It is a
strong vaccine and foals should be 6 months we were told before giving it. It is
an annual booster there after. If you buy a horse who has not been given it, the
2 dose cycle should be used to start, then booster annually. If you have no
children, dont' take your horse off grounds to nursing homes, schools,
parades, etc, it may not be necessary, but we
recommend it anyways.
WEST NILE:
West Nile is
a personal preference. We have not given it yet. It is a horrid disease, like
Strangles, however a recently published article stated that many horses tested
that were never vaccinated are showing antibodies against the disease, so
apparently natural immunity is developing. It is up to you to decide if you want
to use the vaccine. There is much anecdotal evidence of the vaccine causing
severe problems--I am one who puts weight to anecdotal evidence, as technically
everything from past generations is "anecdotal" because there is no
"proof"....but do we throw away generations of wisdom because of it? Not in my
opinion...
POTOMAC HORSE FEVER:
Pototmac
Horse Fever is an important vaccine if you live in the Great Lakes regions or
the New England states. I have also read of recent cases in TN. It is only given if it is carried in a particular area
of the country. Our vet keeps it on hand for horses shipping into those areas.
This is an often fatal sickness and very expensive to treat if you want to save
your horse (hundreds of dollars easily), so the vaccine cost is well worth it.
My vet charges $16 it.
RABIES:
Rabies is not
common in horses, at least in our part of the country. There is a rabies
vaccine for horses, in our state it is not law that it must be given. Check
your states regulations on this one. We have never given it as it is
not considered even a threat in our area, and have not yet had it requested on a
horse sold.
DENTAL:
Annual dental checkups for your mini are important. There are a few "mini specific" equine dentists, and many veterinarians also are quite good. Because a miniature's teeth are not much if any smaller than a large horse's or pony's they can be prone to dental issues. Hooks and uneven wear cause them pain when eating, can cause weight loss and from what I've been told, in minis even cause bites to go off. A horse dropping food out of it's mouth when eating is an indicator they need care NOW. Costs will vary regionally on this, our vet charges $15 to float if no sedation is needed.
OVERALL MONTHLY COST:
We estimate
the monthly cost of mini care to be $30-75, averaging in worming, farrier, dental
and vaccines. Location will have an affect on the cost of caring for your mini, as a square bale runs $3-4 here for Alfalfa or an Alfalfa mix, whereas a friend has told me they run $17 in her state! Local veterinary costs can vary greatly also, so check around on those. Typically you need a "large animal" vet to properly care for a mini...even if they are small
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