Small Riding Horses

[dlskidmore]

The fellow I bought my farm from has a couple small riding horses to sell me. (He’s currently renting the barn as he has no place to put said horses or his alpacas.) I’m not terribly interested in learning to ride, and they have no draft training, so I at first completely dismissed the idea.

However today I met the neighbor, who says her daughter was the one that trained one of the horses, and has won some sort of ribbon riding her. I kind of want an excuse to keep the one now, maybe work out some deal around farm sitting and me keeping the horse for her, but beyond the neighbor’s happiness, I don’t see how a small horse would be that useful to me? Could a kid with a knack be expected to be able to train for driving? Would I find much for such a light horse to do even if trained? The two horses are fairly well matched for size, but I don’t really know enough about horses to say anything else other than what I’m told. The seller says they’re very gentle horses that his four year old grandson can ride solo. One of them appears to have a sore on his nose under his

I’d been thinking I’d do oxen when I get ready for my first draft animals. If I mess up training those I can eat them for dinner and start over. Horses that don’t work are expensive pets.

[carl ny]

You can do a lot with smaller horses.Same as you can do with big ones only on a smaller scale.I use to have a team of 13.3 draft ponies and you would be surprised.

carl ny

[dlskidmore]

So they could do a little garden plowing and wood hauling? Mowing? They’d certainly be able to pull a small pleasure cart, my dog is big enough to pull a one passenger cart.

[carl ny]

I don’t know how big these guys are or the build so it’s hard to tell.Mowing would be the hardest thing you mentioned,you wouldn’t want much over a 4ft. bar.As far as the other stuff,you have to load to the size of your horses.I’ve seen a mini pull two people in a cart,as long as it was good going. HTH

carl ny

P.S. Are you right in Rochester or where? I live outside of Lowville,N.Y. ,if you know where that is.About 150 from you.

[dlskidmore]

@carl ny 39601 wrote:

I don’t know how big these guys are or the build so it’s hard to tell.Mowing would be the hardest thing you mentioned,you wouldn’t want much over a 4ft. bar.

That’s almost as long as the longest BCS bar, so it wouldn’t be a huge step down from there. (I’m avoiding getting a full sized tractor for now so I won’t get too addicted to fast mowing.)
@carl ny 39601 wrote:

As far as the other stuff,you have to load to the size of your horses. I’ve seen a mini pull two people in a cart,as long as it was good going. HTH

Right, so I’d want to drag one or two logs at a time instead of a sled full… Since I’m just looking at firewood for our house (pleasure stove and fireplace, propane takes care of most of the heating) I’m not worried about haling a whole lot in one shot, and it’s only 1/4 mile or so from the wood lot to the house. There is some steep bits on the way though, so I would need to be conservative with loads. Draft dogs generally are not expected to haul more than 3x their own weight, and then only with a well balanced cart on good paths, is there a guideline like that for horse?

So it’s possible, but still not sure it’s a great idea for a novice to take them on. They’re working on me, they come to see me every time I take a pasture walk. Their real asset is a built in horse sitter, and I can probably get them for a greatly reduced price (maybe free) if I take them as this summer’s rent for the Alpacas. (He should know by fall if he’s gong to be able to build a new barn or not.)

@carl ny 39601 wrote:

P.S. Are you right in Rochester or where? I live outside of Lowville,N.Y. ,if you know where that is.About 150 from you.

We’re moving another half hour east, to Wayne County.

[dominiquer60]

Small horses can do work, I helped a friend in college do farm work with draft ponies and we got a lot done, but Morgans, Quarter Horses and other types can be very hand on a farmstead. Here is a good example, http://www.nealperryfarm.com/ben.html. Sounds like you should start reading some of the old horse threads 🙂

[dlskidmore]

@dominiquer60 39603 wrote:

Sounds like you should start reading some of the old horse threads 🙂

Yeah, I did do some reading when I first toyed with the idea of draft animals, but it has been awhile, and there is a huge difference between reading and doing with such a large animal. Even Great Danes are getting large enough to be hard to handle safely when they’re not calm.

[Eli]

The horse I’m training is a rideing horse and I have big plans for her and her team mate. The way I see it is I don’t have to dump gas in my horse every time I use her and I have to feed her any way. Eli

[dlskidmore]

@Eli 39607 wrote:

The way I see it is I don’t have to dump gas in my horse every time I use her and I have to feed her any way. Eli

Well, that’s how I feel about oxen, I’ve got to feed them anyway if I’m going to eat him later. But I’ve no intention of keeping a just for riding horse in the near future, so I won’t be feeding one unless I decide it would be useful enough to be worth keeping.

[dlskidmore]

I do have a nearby horse farmer that might be able to help me with some practical aspects, but he doesn’t have a lot of time to mentor. Any book recommendations? I probably have until Summer to decide if I want the horses.

[Dickel]

Take a trip into youtube and you will be surprised what small horses can do in harness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCBOS2UWKAA

[Billy Anderson]

There fiesty little blighters. We have a miniature shety and he has the biggest personality. puts the clydesdales in there place. Handy with his back legs though

[dlskidmore]

… and those guys are quite a bit smaller than the riding horses I’m talking about.

[Dickel]

@dlskidmore 39635 wrote:

… and those guys are quite a bit smaller than the riding horses I’m talking about.

I guessed as much. One persons draft horse is another persons riding horse. (:^D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DgxOcCYo70

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25sROA3sdLY

[dlskidmore]

Definitely much less stocky and a bit shorter than the Belgian.

I do have a friend that rides a draft horse, but it was my other horse friend that commented they were small for riding horses. I’ve got a couple other horse friends visiting next week, maybe they can tell me more about them. The owner gave us permission to go feed and pet the horses.

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