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2 month old Breezy weighs 75 pounds
As you pull into the curved drive of Aunt V’s, Sugar, Patch, Blue, and the rest of the horses will look up to see who is visiting before returning to graze the clover in their pasture. If you go to the fence with some carrots they might meander over for a treat, but you have to kneel down to feed them all. These horses are 32 inches high and weigh about 250 pounds.
Aunt V’s is home to Manzanita Miniature Horses, horses whose average size are between 250 – 350 pounds and stand about 32 inches high. These are not ponies, but full sized horses. Owner Vanessa Cuomo, who has managed the farm for 13 years, explains, “I have always wanted a horse,” and her first purchase was a “mini.” Now she breeds, raises, trains, and sells the tiny animals. She has retired from showing them, but occasionally attends shows. “You breed for confirmation, just like in regular horse shows,” she explains. “You can also show with the horse pulling a buggy or cart.” Some owners will show for points. The more points a horse wins, the more valuable it becomes.
Vanessa Cuomo & one of the horses
Miniature horses are versatile. They can be pets due to their gentle nature, and make a great first horse for youngsters who need to learn the responsibility of a horse. Vanessa Cuomo takes some of her horses to nursing homes for therapy work, to visit the elderly and infirmed. Smaller children can ride the horses, and the hardy little animals can pull carts carrying up to two adult passengers. They are also easy to train to perform tricks. There is a new program, teaching horses to be guide animals for the blind. Because of their long life spans, they could easily replace dogs as guide animals. “The horse goes everywhere – on an escalator, on an airplane,” Cuomo explains. A horse’s hooves were not meant to hold traction on certain surfaces, so they must wear special boots. Some have even been housebroken. But, Cuomo warns, this is an exception. “These are not dogs; they’re horses, and they react as horses. They’ll kick someone who is not careful walking behind them, they must be halter trained, and taught to be still when having their hooves worked on.”
Tiny halters & feedbags hang neatly
Miniature horses originated in the late 1800’s, when coal miners needed small, tough horses to pull wheeled coal bins in and out of the mines. By breeding small Shetland ponies down to even smaller stock, eventually a sturdy, undersized animal developed that could pull weight through the openings of the mine yet not demand the food intake of a full-grown horse or mule. Like the Shetland, the miniatures grow a shaggy coat. Some fanciers say this is the result of Icelandic roots in the horse’s history. It is possible the European Royalty bred the minis for pets for their children. Argentina is probably the most eminent place of miniature horse breeding due to the concentration of specific breeding. Argentina’s Falabella Miniature Horse is a well-known breed in the mini horse world.
The sun lowers on the farm, and the herd of horses meanders peacefully to another section of the field. Chewy, the adopted Great Pyrenees, wanders through and dwarfs the group. Walking through the barn you see the neat row of tiny multicolored halters hanging on pegs. “These are sweet animals,” Vanessa Cuomo says fondly, looking out at the peaceful scene. “Winston Churchill said it best: ‘There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.’”
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