Tag: miniature horse

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Training A Miniature Horse To Drive – P2

Miniature horses are just plain AWESOME. They are so tiny, so feisty and are willing to do anything. It’s like having a big dog who’s poops smell better.  So that’s what we’re going to do.  Treat them like a big dog!

Step 1 – to training your mini – take them for a walk.  Need to take your dog for a walk in the morning fine, bring your mini along with you.  Kill 2 birds with 1 lead rope. Or some thing like that.

The key to taking your mini for a walk is to start introducing voice commands.  So when you set off, say “walk-on” and then move off.  When you stop say “whoa” and mean it. Whoa means stop always. And it doesn’t mean stop and wiggle, it means stop and stand.  Don’t panic if you have a wiggly beastie.  Whoa means stop, if you only get a “1 Mississippi” before they want to move off again then be sure to say “walk-on” before they decide it’s time to break the whoa.  Slowly increase your Mississippi counts longer and longer until you can whoa happily without moving for a good 30 seconds to a minute.

Did you realize minis are well, mini?  The are also fearless in most cases and will do just about anything you ask them to up to and including jumping into your vehicle.  You don’t need a horse trailer most the time to get them out and about.  So pop them in the back of your SUV or if you’re really daring apparently they will craw into your pickup truck too. Don’t ask. It’s better if you use a ramp to get them into your vehicle.

Lastly, tie your mini up.  Going out to do chores? Or have to clean some tack or just sweeping out the barn? Go grab your mini and tie it up.  I’m not talking about cross ties.  Go tie it to a tree, the truck, fence post, or anything else you can think of.  Why? because 90% of being a good driving horse is standing still.  Granted, you should never tie a hitched horse but learning to tie is learning patience. So tie tie tie.

Training your mini to drive step 1 checklist

      1. Learn to tie
      2. Take your mini for a walk (yes like a dog)
      3. Teach it voice commands “walk-on” and “Whoa”
      4. Take your mini for a car ride to new places and repeat steps 1-3


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Training A Miniature Horse To Drive – P1

Horses come and go on any farm and mine is no different. I acquired a 36″ mini a few years ago and what the heck do you do with a mini?  Get it another mini as a friend of course, then lose the original mini due to Lyme disease and now your friend mini is alone so you obviously need another mini to keep that one company, oh heck lets make it 2.   So you started out wanting no minis but through mini-math you end up with 3. Got it?

Ok, you now have 3 mini horses who do nothing but look cute and poop an amazing amount for such little animals.  Time to put one to work!  My day job switched my schedule around slightly, leaving this morning person with a few extra minutes a day to spare. Lets make those extra few minutes productive ones!

When I talk to people, they love to give me excuses. LOTS of excuses as to why they can’t or won’t train their horses and these are the main ones I hear all the most.

I have no time. Pft, sure you do. Follow along on this series and I’ll keep you updated with training my mini in just 10-20 min 3-5 days a week.

I can’t start, I don’t have a harness. It’s ok, we don’t plan on hitching to anything in a while. Heck, your horse might not even be a candidate to drive so don’t go off wasting $ on stuff you might not ever use.  Teaching a horse to drive starts with line driving. You don’t need a harness for that, heck you don’t even need a bridle.  Reins clipped onto a halter is what I start my guys in.  You don’t need fancy reins either, if you’re really going to cry poor braid up some bailing twine and tie it on to the halter or be real fancy like and use snaps.

Teach your mini to drive materials checklist

        1. Miniature horse
        2. Halter
        3. Reins – or bailing twine – or 2 lead ropes
        4. 10-20 minutes of your time. 3-5 days a week.

Are you ready to drive?  Check back for Part 2 and we’ll get you set up for your first lesson with your mini!