The American Miniature Horse
by Melissa Addison

The Miniature Horse is just that - a horse in miniature. The breed was developed in the 1800s by the British and US Coal Miners to have a breed of horse small enough to pull the coal carts out of the coal mines when humans couldn't do the job. Miniatures can pull up to 4 times their own weight. The "pit ponies" were bred smaller and smaller for each generation.

Fast forward to the 1970s when it was becoming popular to take the descendents of these horses and start breeding them to create a new breed. Because the Minis were not regulated in the beginning, most pedigrees registered with AMHA (American Miniature Horse Association) or AMHR (American Miniature Horse Registry) will be listed as UNKNOWN.

The first registry was the IMHR - International Miniature Horse Registry, which merged with the AMHA in the early 1980s to become one entity. The AMHR is a merge with the American Shetland Pony Club.

AMHA registers any horse measuring 34" at the base of the mane (not the withers like other breeds). There are a few exceptions from the early registry days that are over 34" but usually under 38" that are registered as FOUNDATION OVERSIZE - because they were registered before 1986 and produced registered horses smaller than the 34". The AMHA was an open (meaning parentage not required to be registered) until about 1990. The book is now closed to small individuals whose parentage is unknown.

AMHR registers any horse measuring 38" and under at the base of the mane. They closed their book in July 1999. All future horses MUST have two registered parents. You will find a diverse mixture of bloodlines in Miniatures. From the famed Fallabella line of Argentina that is noted for being bred down from all forms of larger breeds - mainly Arabian and Appaloosa with a touch of pony, to American Shetlands dual registered because they met the height requirement before the books closed. There are many breeders who breed strictly for the Arabian type look, some for the Draft look, and some for a Stock look.

Miniatures come in all recognized horse colors including silver dapple, champagne, "white", plus your every day chestnut, bay, black, appaloosa, pinto, roans, duns, palominos, etc.

Miniatures are shown WITHOUT shoes and are shown in a stock or Arab type halter. Their mane is trimmed from the poll to about 6 inches down the neck to 10 inches to show the throatlach area off . Their hooves are blackened or glazed depending on their color. Classes at shows include: Halter - divided by Junior and Senior age group and into Stallion, Gelding, and Mare, Color Classes, Showmanship - which is divided into Youth, Amateur, Professional, "Jack Benny and Lucille Ball" for those in their 'best' years, and classes for owners with disabilities (which I believe is new as of 1996.)

Miniatures are shown in "trail" called halter obstacle - where they are led through 7-10 obstacles and MUST perform just like a large horse would - well mannered and calm. They do Hunter and Jumper (which is led in halter as well), costume (HANDLER MUST DRESS UP), liberty - horse is turned into arena, music plays and you show your horse's best moves. There are also harness classes - single pleasure driving, men's, ladies', and youth - amateur and pro, country pleasure driving, roadster, team, and harness obstacles. New in last 2-3 years is barrel racing - done IN THE HARNESS and cart on a standard barrel pattern. There are also Miniature Sulky races like the Standardbreds run. There are some classes that allow for larger minis to be ridden by small children in English and Western, which are usually in the AMHR shows.

As for bloodlines, most state UNKNOWN - either because someone found a great small horse and got it registered OR because they just didn't want anyone to know that their 40" mare foaled a small foal (or their 40" stallion sired it!) Bloodlines are kept track of much better today and both clubs require DNA testing on stallions siring over 5 foals or mares born after 1995 before they have their first foal. In doing the DNA testing it has been found that a lot of horses were not by who was originally claimed. One prime example is NFC's Sugar Boy - a strawberry roan - said to be sired by FWF Legionaire - a tobiano pinto, when in all actuality he was sired by a larger stallion at the farm named Roan Ranger. DNA testing has cleared up a lot of the "holes" but has gotten a lot of the older farms into trouble too.

As for the best pedigrees - I can't say there are any without an unknown of two but the most prominent stallions are Rowdy, Orion Light Van't Huttenest, and Boone's Little Buckeroo. There are many others, but these three are classified as the best.

ROWDY
5/5/73-6/2/90, solid bay with a blaze. He was 33 3/4', measured two times at a show by 2 different judges (yes, judges can call a measure on your horse at any time!) Rowdy was American Shetland all the way - his grandsire was Kewpie Doll's Oracle, a tobiano stallion foaled in 1945 to the 1948/1949 champion mare Streamliner's Kewpie Doll and sired by Hillswicke Oracle.

-----Hillswicke Oracle
----Kewpie Doll's Oracle
-----Streamliner's Kewpie Doll
--Kewpie's Sun
----unknown
ROWDY
--unknown

Rowdy sired many great foals - the 1987 National Champion Rowdy's Charm, Rowdy's Grey Girl, Rowdy's Standing Ovation (the leading overo sire) and Lazy N's Boogerman, the 'winningest' horse in AMHA history and record seller at NFC's disperal for $110,000.

ORION LIGHT VAN'T HUTTENEST
5/74, still alive and breeding! Blue roan blanket pintaloosa, 31'. He is the top sire of all time followed closely by Boone's Little Buckeroo. He has more National Champion foals than any other stallion, and sireds dominantly Appaloosa but also has pinto, solid, and pintaloosa foals.

--Unknown
ORION LIGHT VAN'T HUTTENEST
--Dell Tera's Lady Jane

He was not bred until 1981 and only had one foal that year - his owner thought at 31" he was TOO BIG - but eventually turned out to be a sire of top show horses including Xeon Light Van't Huttenest, Brewer's Orion Classic, Brewer's Orion Legacy, Brewer's Orion Bridesmaid, Brewer's Orion Mistic, Happy Appy, Yashica Light Van't Huttenest, and his all time best shower, Brewer's Orion Main Attraction.

BOONE'S LITTLE BUCKEROO
1978 buckskin, 30.25". He is the only Miniature Horse to win the National Champion title three times (1980, 1981, and 1983) - and didn't win in 1982 because he broke his leg fighting another stallion! He sold in 1983 for $100,000, the highest price for a Mini at that time.

--Popular Lanes Samson
BOONE'S LITTLE BUCKEROO
----Gold Melody Boy
--Johnston's Vanilla
----unknown

He is the sire of Little King's Buck Echo, Little King's Locomotion, Little King's Buckeroo 2nd, Ima Boone's Little Buckeroo Too, Little King's Buck Off, Little King's Boston Buckeroo (the only non-buckskin son that is a champion - he is silver dapple).

There are many other top stallions and a few mares too, but their pedigrees are hard to come by. Some of the other most notable stallions include...

• Gold Melody Boy, sire of Roan Ranger, Johnston's Gold Bar, and grandsire of NCF's Sugar Boy and Boone's Little Buckaroon. He was a palomino American Shetland
• Flying W Farms Little Blue Boy - a nice size reducer, 30" tall and a beautiful grey. He tragically died in a barn fire along with about 10 mares bred to him.
• Hemlock Brook's Egyptian King, the 1986 National Champion and a beautiful grey - a sire of mainly grey horses, he is very Arabian in appearance.
• Shadow Oak's Top Banana, the 1984 National Champion Stallion. He is a smutty buckskin that produces beautiful heads and long necks.

As I said, there are many more and I am quite willing to help anyone in their research for the perfect mini parents for their models!

Melissa Addison, P.O. Box 215, Tonganoxie, KS 66086

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