Worst thing your mini has ever done.

I call mine a Shireland. He was sold to me as a shetland 16 years ago but I'm not too sure. He is 10hh but has a massive head! He is so full of personality - calls a greeting whenever he sees us, scrapes the floor and waves his legs around whenever he is waiting for anything, nibbles buttons and pockets. Best of all he has been fantastic with my little girls. In the 16 years ive had him he has never bitten, kicked or threatened either. Not even an ears back grumpy face. They can groom him and get on and off him and he is nothing but kind and patient. Although I have always made sure my little girls remember he has feelings too so they are very gentle with him and use a step to get on and off and don't pull him around.
 
To be fair to my extensive mob of shetlands the fence thing and the no catching this are my only real issues. The ridden ones love their work and pretty much tack themselves up - I have 1 mare who doesnt like to be caught but you show her a saddle and she pretty much puts herself under it to be ridden. She loves attention and loves going out showing but she certainly isnt a kids ride!

The wee, now 2yo, multi coloured colt is an absolute diamond! I love him! He just pootles through life as though he were a gelding! He will be out being shown this year if he matures nicely and not into an ugly duckling as some 2yos do.

The one thing this thread lacks is pictures! So here are some of my crew!

Pips waiting out of the rain!
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Lucy (left) Fire (right) mother and daughter. Fire is a yearling here but she is now 6 ...
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Flint - the ultimate shetland!
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Rains - my HOYS lead rein pony!
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Diving through the leccy fence if it's switched off can lead to chaos! One goes first, you then have a split second to determine whether to run for the switch, stand guard at the gap waving away the others whilst wondering how you can extend your arms by 10 feet to reach the switch or try to grab the original offender and shove him back in before the others make it through. Invariably the ponies win which then leads to 5 furry bundles flying in different directions and me calling work to tell them I'm going to be late!!
 
Mine's favourite pastime is knocking over the poopicking wheelbarrow! He also loves playing with dogs so will chase the ones that use the footpath through his field....oops! Probably the worst thing is when I was working. He somehow escaped and a relative found him grazing on the lane just outside his field. The relative tried to catch him but he would not be caught so they ended up chasing him for two miles down the lane until he finally gave in. They then didn't tell me for days as they didn't want me to worry :D
 
Ours is a fab lead rein or second pony, but he just will not accept any other pony overtaking him, or even riding alongside. He cuts in front and bucks up at the other poor pony. Little riders quickly learn to sit and laugh at him (great for their seat), but the other ponies give him a wide berth.

I refuse to bit up a pony who is ridden by beginners with iffy hands, so as he likes a fast ride, it takes a firm hand to hold him in his french link snaffle sometimes.

He doesn't like to be bored, and experiments with using him for pony rides at the fete resulted in him refusing to do the same route more than once and bucking the kids off :D

Here he is being a model citizen.
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I had two mini stallions.

One was an angel, never put a foot wrong and wouldn't even leave the field of the gate was open unless he was accompanied by a human.

His half brother more than made up for his good behaviour though.

'Bad' brother once climbed up the muck heap in the corner of the field, jumped down the 3' drop at the other side and proceeded to wander through the village until he came across the church yard. Let's just say that it took a while to tidy up the flowers and plants on the graves that he had sampled. He was not a popular pony that day!

Oh, and there was the time he escaped and got into a field with three very expensive 3DE's. All mares. :o It took us ages to catch him, he was so excited to be in with females, OH had to rugby tackle him to the ground and sit on him until I came running with head collar and lead rope.

Those are the most memorable, but there are many more, including the school incident.....

He kept us on our toes!
 
MrsElle said:
Oh, and there was the time he escaped and got into a field with three very expensive 3DE's. All mares. :o It took us ages to catch him, he was so excited to be in with females, OH had to rugby tackle him to the ground and sit on him until I came running with head collar and lead rope.
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I've had to rugby tackle a few as well! It does make for entertaining viewing!
 
Mine, when still a stallion, got through three lots of electric and post and rail fencing to chase a 17.2 ID mare. He's 30'' tall. She kicked him, he flew through the air and hit the ground. The mare's owner and I were already running towards the field - we thought she'd killed him. Before we got there he got up, shook himself and tried again! Took us ages to catch both of them. Another day, a friend's daughter was showing him in hand, and he stood on his hind legs and tried to box the judge! He was placed first later in the day by the same judge when he'd calmed down. Good job he is cute.
 
I have three shetlandxfallabella's and they are fantastic. Never thought I would have a mini as never been interested in them but once I fell in love with a four month old foal and knew I had to have her but didn't want one on its own with the big horses ended up with three. I love them and yes the rumours are true they wreck your fencing, they love escaping and having to be brought home by neighbours on the end of a dog lead, they sneak into the house if the door is left open for a split second and steal food of the kitchen work tops but they are brilliant to own, they are so much fun to have around and just make me smile every day. Love them and would never be without one again.
 
I just wanted to add that my shetland is the only pony I've ever had to sedate. He managed to get some sheep wire around his leg. With any of the others, it'd have been cut off with pliers in a jiffy, but him... not a chance. It took 4 of us plus the vet!
 
Kicking the farrier face down in the mud. Both barrels right under his bum cheeks sent him sprawling. I think the embarrassment of being floored by a mini was worse than the face full of mud!!!!

I should say though that apart from that little hiccup, and the odd foray through the fencing to go visiting he was a little angel, we could take him anywhere and do just about anything with him - and he was a stallion.

Still really, really miss the little fella.
 
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My friend had one and she was riding him bareback in the field which was fenced with electric fencing.. Sammy ran straight at the fence and went under it.. Friend got electrocuted and came off :D
 
NellRosk said:
My friend had one and she was riding him bareback in the field which was fenced with electric fencing.. Sammy ran straight at the fence and went under it.. Friend got electrocuted and came off :D
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Been there, seen that, got that t-shirt too! Lol! Except I had full tack on lol! I also got let on the ring ropes at a show 0ne day when my (different) sheltie decided to head back to the trailer. To this day I don't know how it happened as it happened so quick! He must have spun and gone lol!
 
I have worked with loads of shetties over the years. We did pony rides at a Country Park with a bunch and they were as good as gold, just got on with their job, at the end of the day they went back out on the common with the trekking horses, never had problems with them. They were treated like short horses - with a job to do.

Then there were the three that were merely field ornaments when I was a private groom. Oh how they wound me up. They lived in a 10 acre field, great for ponies, rough ground loads of cover - see where this is going?

When it rained my employer insisted that they be rugged up in their tailor made NZ's. Yeah - right. Ponies thought otherwise. You try catching three little monsters in a 10 acre field in the piddling rain/storm/hurricane when they don't want to be rugged- and they never did. It wasn't just me (thankfully) no-one could ever catch them the moment they saw those rugs.

I do call Shetlands Shitlands, but only as a term of endearment, if I want to insult them I have much worse names for them. :D

Up until recently I had a pair of minis, they were great, no trouble at all, as long as they were contained :) (Stockwire) If they could slip out of a gate they would, and then they'd be gone. Not a good thing when the immediate area was unfenced and either 100's of acres of crops or 1000's of acres of forest. They would gallop off, bucking and skipping, then come back and run rings around me!

The most memorable time that they escaped was when the field opposite was down to corn, right, you try locating 2 ponies under 32" in 300 acres of 8' high corn without dogs or a helicopter. Not happening! On that occasion I did find one of the illegal 'gardens' though. Class weed!

That time the ponies came home when they felt ready.
 
EKW those pictures are superb, beautiful shet's! Worst thing my mini cross did was bite the yard owner's finger really badly. Ooops! But little Lilli is seriously special needs and very known to bite so to wave your hand at her is kind of asking for trouble. Lunging does not mean going round in circles to Lilli!
 
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