New Mini Shelty owner - Advice Please :)

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kat2290

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My sister and I will soon be taking delivery of these gorgeous little girls
Bella
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Lulu
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We are expecting them mid october when they will be around 6months. I am wondering if, as foals, they are more or less susceptible to laminitis, do we need to take the same precautions as we would with a mature mini or is it less of an issue as they are growing?

Also need to build a shelter for them but our field isn't ideal as it is all on a slope and there isn't any flat area :mad: Our options are either to build the shelter straight on to the slope which would mean they would be standing on the grass/mud (unless anyone can suggest something we can put down on sloped ground) or raise the shelter off the floor to make it level using breeze blocks then lay some kind of flooring down on top of that...not sure what we could use as a floor though, very thick ply maybe?
Obviously raising up would be better as they can then have proper bedding etc but is it necessary for hardy little shelties?! We are planning on the shelter only being up for this winter while they are so small, after that our field has a natural shelter (big dip covered by lots of trees) which should be sufficient for them once they are bigger.

I would be interested to hear what you guys think, I know they are an extremely hardy breed and can cope with all weather but I just feel as they are so teeny that they need extra care this winter...or am I just being over cautious:confused:
 
As far as laminitis goes, we find our shetlands are safe from it until the spring/summer of their third year. That is when we start managing them as a laminitic risk.

As to the shelter, ours make do with natural shelter in their fields, and live out all year round. They are usually absolutely fine - we don't even rug them. We do have rugs in case they need them, but they never seem to.
 
Varkie - thanks for the advice, Im encouraged that you keep yours out all year - thats a good start! It is only because they are foals that I am worrying about it, what do you think?
 
Nah said:
Good lord, they are CUTE!!!
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:DThey are absolutely adorable, especially Lulu the little bay she is just the sweetest little thing I've met, I don't know how I'm going to contain my excitement for the next month until we can take them home!
 
If they're in good condition and haven't been clipped at all, they should grow winter coats that are over an inch thick when you put your fingers in it! Hence no need for rugs. And a healthy typey shetland should not really need rugs - given where they are bred to survive on - the shetland isles!

The youngsters if anything seem to grow thicker coats than older ponies in their first winter. None of ours have ever needed rugging at that age. In fact when it snows you'll find that snow lays on their backs! This is because they're so well insulated that the heat doesn't escape out of their coats to melt it.
 
So they should be ok in our lounge without the fire on then...hehehe :-)

I am doing right making them a shelter though, aren't I?! Maybe I've been getting too carried away with it all worrying about what to put down on the floor etc, will they be fine literally just with 3 sides and a roof?
 
3 sides and a roof would be fine just make sure the open side is away from the worst of the wind and rain.
I guess I could be seen as a molly coddler as I treat mine the same way I treat my bigger ones. They are out during the day, stabled at night and rugged up in the really wet weather. It all depends on your personal situation as to how you keep them but I don't have any natural shelter in any of my paddocks and I like to handle them every day.
They can cope very well with the cold but need to be able to get somewhere to dry off as prolonged soaking will cause problems. Give me snow over rain any day.We have had enough rain to last a lifetime recently, even my Welsh sec C is complaining.
Good luck with your babies, they are gorgeous and I am jelous.
 
DOes your field have any natural shelter in the form of trees, or bushes? If so, you shouldn't need a man made shelter. Our little mini stays out 24/7 365 days a year with no built shelter - just the natural shelter afforded by the field boundaries. They are incredibly hardy little beasts!
 
I brought my little rascals as babies (one was three with a foal at foot) :) sadly I lost one 2 years ago to laminitus as a result of cushings - he was only 12 :( however my two remaining live out 12 months of the year on 1/2 acre with very short grazing and just get a slab of hay between them each evening in the winter, they get NO other food ! even when they were little they only got about half a scoop of sugar beet and alfa chaff when the weather was very cold and snowy, otherwise survive on just the good hay. with regard to rugs /shelter, your two little ones should be fine so long as they have hedges to shelter from the worst of the wind / rain/ snow, mine have never worn rugs. they look soooo cute when they get frosty tips to their manes and coat in the cold weather. they are so well insulated (usually at least 2-3 inches of coat) that the frosty bits dont melt for days ! they are really toasty underneath if you feel them.

you could put slabs down as a floor for the shelter or how about rubber matting, they wont need a huge area the smaller the better as it will help keep them cosy but do make sure it faces away from the wind, they will happily cope with a slope on the floor, it doesnt need to be perfectly level.

just for good measure here's a picky of my two rascals :) maisy and daisy (grey) - must add the photo is in the yards gateway they do have a slightly more grazing than this :)

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they are soo cute!!! if they're ever too much to handle... :D how about rubber mating on the floor? we put concrete slabs down and then the mating over the top so it doesnt get muddy. works really well xx
 
When we bought our mini last year my yard owner allowed us to section off a small paddock behind the main stable block so that we could restrict his grazing if necessary. We also build him a tiny shelter out of reclaimed wood and featherboard (we used a properly fixed fence post in each corner) to allow him to get out of the worst of the weather. Because the ground sloped away making the pony palace this way allowed us to build taking account of this and it also means that the wet drains away so there is no need to put a base down. We did put straw down in the worst of the winter.

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Over the winter he was turned out through the day with his larger pony friends and then over night he went in his little paddock with pony palace :D He had a tiny tea of alpha a and speedy beet and a small trug of soaked hay to keep his tummy warm over night. We also top up his vit's and minerals with a couple of D&H equibites per day.
He coped like this through the worst of the winter and was fine without a rug even in minus 14. The only time he has ever needed rugging was when the rain earlier this year was torrential and he got soaked through. We had to bring him into a stable to dry off and then we rugged for a few weeks untill the weather improved.

Pic of him after a clip in the summer just cos he's a cutie.....
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