If you have minis and regular horses...

[Peaches Lee]

I think it depends on the horses involved. We took in some rescue minis and never put them with our full-sized horses in part for quarantine reasons and since we were finding them new homes, we didn't need to integrate them with a herd. However, if we were to put them with the herds, I would have not put them in with certain horses simply based on those horses behavior in a herd situation. I think you have a pretty good handle on your horse and how he is, you just have to "feel" when the situation is right. Good luck...

and enjoy those minis!

 

[zazouse]

Never had a problem with mine as long as they were gelded.

 

[jettgirl24]

My retired guy and his mini horse are absolutely inseparable so yes

I've never had a problem with my two but it's always a possibility regardless of the sizes of the horses and it's magnified when one significantly outsizes the other. I would start carefully and make sure they have plenty of space. The friend that we got our mini mare from has several of them in the field with a Belgian/QH gelding that we used to own (we swapped

). The big guy loves her minis now but when we first gave him to her, she had a mini stallion that was always in his space. William put up with it for quite awhile but one day he must have pushed him to far and the big guy kicked at him, caught him in the head, and killed him. So in short, there is definitely a risk. As you've seen from the other posters here they can get along great though. I would just introduce them carefully and keep a very close eye at first.

And a snow day picture for good measure!

 

[2pinkmom]

What sweet pictures! From reading some of these stories, it seems like people don't realize that a stud is a stud. Doesn't matter if it is a mini or not. I refused to consider a stallion when I was looking for the minis, and people acted like I was being weird. I just didn't want that layer of hassle on top of small children and a job.

Just to reiterate, no one is out 24/7 on grass getting fat around here. We are blessed (cursed?) with some of the nicest orchard grass I've ever seen on this property. The Arabian and chincoteague pony wore grazing muzzles. The Percheron probably would need a muzzle but for the fact that he has bad teeth. Interesting factoid - drafts are as prone to founder as ponies. Everyone comes in for at least 8 hours a day. On days like today that are hot enough to make the devil sigh , I start an elaborate mental calculus at about 2pm. Go stand in the stalls checking the ambient air temp. Check for dehydration. Start grumbling that the barn aisle is hotter than it is outside. Go outside and look at the paddocks to see how the shade is falling. Try to decide if it is too early for horses to go out. Is the grass mowed short enough and dried out enough? Hmmm. So yeah, it would be nice if everyone could go out in the front paddocks together, rather than fussing over adjacent paddocks with enough shade. But I will do it for awhile longer and see how it goes.

 

[halo]

Ive been also looking for another mini (or 2), but I dont want a mare or a stud, and theres so few geldings available. When I bought my little guy, he was a yearling and I had him gelded, so I may just have to look for a youngster and have him gelded. Ive turned this one out with probably 8 or 9 different races horses, and he's held his own with all of them. In fact he ran one out of his feed, so I had to separate them at feed time.

He thinks he's big.