Ok yeah unless those people weighed less than 70 lbs (which I doubt!), they had no business riding those minis :-( Poor horses...somebody needs to tell those people to just get a PONY if they want a small mount for goodness sake!!
I know!!! HORSES are for riding, not minis(unless it is a little kid). This is from the person who posted the first vid on youtube:
"Haha this is me riding my mini.. hes not broke yet so he doesnt really know whats going on. hes the sweetest thing ever! OKAY PEOPLE. I KNOW IM TO BIG TO RIDE HIM BUT WE JUST WANTED TO SEE WHAT HE WOULD DO WITH A PERSON ON HIS BACK FOR ONE MIN. PLEASE STOP WITH ALL THIS MEAN STUFF. I KNOW IM TO BIG AND ITS NOT LIKE I RIDE HIM EVERY DAY LIKE THIS... IT WAS JUST THAT ONE TIME. I HAVE THREE OTHER BIG HORSES THAT I RIDE. THIS WAS ONLY ONCE. SO SAY WHAT YOU WANT, BUT IT REALLY MEANS NOTHING TO ME!
SO JUST PLEASE STOP."
******************************************************
And "to see what he would do with a person on his back" is no excuse like seriously
I personally don't see it as a huge problem, except maybe the second video was a little much, the person couldn't even sit without their feet touching the ground. These mini horses and ponies are built to be really strong and carry a lot of weight. It's not uncommon for them to be ridden by smaller adults and teens since it's dangerous for young kids to get on them and try and train them, they need someone more experienced than that as they can be quite feisty. The third video it's obvious that the tall girl riding her doesn't do it for very long or on a regular basis, it's the young girl leading it that rides it.
Wow...I don't care if that was the ONLY time she ever did it, she was probably hurting the poor guy's back! And pulling on his mouth like that, ugh :-( Just...I want to go kidnap him and bring him home to live in my backyard where people twice his size won't sit on his back!! poor guy...if you look on the American Mini Horse website it states that no one over 70 lbs should ever ride a mini horse...and the general rule of thumb with ANY horse is that no one weighing more than 20-25% of the horse's body weight should be riding him. Mini's are like 150-250 lbs, so basically unless you're a small child you're just hurting them :-(
How do you think these mini's are trained to be ridden? You can't just expect to put a "small child" on the horse and train them. It's just not logical. I don't know very many 7 or 8 year olds that train horses, I'm sure they are out there but not a lot.
in the first vid the girl wasnt pulling on his mouth. to me it looked like he had never had a bit before and was just mouthing it. the reins are loose in her hands when his mouth is open.
Endless Journey, I tried looking it up on the internet for you...looks like what's done normally is you can break a mini just like any other horse, except for riding in saddle...you can saddle break them but just not ride them. If they are quiet enough (as is normally their nature), you can lead them around with a small child on. But most do not get on and train them in the saddle, since they are normally not ridden by adults.
Which is probably why most kids who ride have ponies, not mini's.
most mini's I see being ridden are at fairs. They put little tiny kids on them. They are on a walker type contraption so there is no way the minis can get away. For the most part they usually look terribly bored but put up with the little kids on their backs. I have no idea how they train them to do this. However I kind of doubt its with an adult rider. Maybe they just do lots of groundwork, put the tack on and then slowly add some weight on top. Maybe they have a young skilled small rider help. When I was about 10 I could have handled an unbroken mini as long as it had decent manners and I only weighed about 65 lbs at the most when I was that age.
However they do it I don't think its with a 100 plus pound person. However for a minute I don't really have a huge issue with it, but its sort of dumb.
I know of 4 kids at my barn right now under 70lbs who could easily ride an unbroke mini. More if you just led the mini around. There is NO excuse for someone that large riding a mini IMO
^^ They CAN, however, pull more than their weight. I really don't think minis should be ridden, IMO. Maybe just lil 10+ hand Shetlands at the most. I only think they should be used for pulling..
I agree with the pulling. I love watching a team of minis. The weight is distributed way differently. I would prefer not to see mini rode at all either. If you want to ride, get on a larger pony/horse.
Yup, that's why as I said earlier...most kids you see riding are riding little PONIES, NOT mini horses...that's for a reason! Mini's were not bred to be ridden...driving is another thing altogther, but to be ridden...that's more for the ponies and horses that can safely carry the weight on their backs!
I had a mini X shetland For my 3yr daughter who needed schooling So i picked the lightest person I knew and trusted to help me out . My 15yr sis who weighed 50kg or 110pounds. Nothing major just flat work to get him a little more responsive as my daughter only weighed 16 kg at the time or 35 pounds . She was very tiny lol
So I agree that given the size of the people riding these minis it is cruel. and especially if they are unbroken . You would just jump on a 15hh + horse unbroken and trot them around if the mini could of thrown her off im sure he would of, So he was definately bearing too much weight.
^wow^ i cant even imagan how hard that would be for a miniature
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