Are Mini horses mean?

No. Just like people you have some butt heads out there and just have a bad attitude. This is like 1 in 10 I'd say naturally. Even we have a stallion that is a butt hole on a regular basses. He was just born that way and most babies that come out of his father are known for thier additueds. Now he dosn't bit or kick or attack, you just get this general air of distain when you are in a stall with him while he faces a wall. Making you think, "the wall makes a better friend than me." 

Mini horses get this bad reputation because of a few bad apples in the bunch that their buyers don't know what they are doing. The buyer doesn't know if they were abused or abandoned, or know how to see the signs of it. People think that if they buy a mini horse for $50 to $100 they are getting a great deal and a horse that is mentally fit like the $700-$800 horses, well... all deals come at a price and a great deal at the time you will suffer the quality of the animal you are buying.  

I had someone come out and get a free rooster the fall of 2012 (we had 10 chicks that summer and 4 were Roosters) from us. She drove from one end of town to ours and when she got here she found out that this pretty bird was a wild bird, I said free range in the ad. She had assumed that since I was holding him in the pics he was tame as could be. She demanded I pay her gas money for wasting her time on what she thought was a tame pet. 

Do mini horses play in water? Yes

Some will play in the water troff on a hot day and just splash and splash, causing you to fill the water all day long. That is why most of our lots have 2 acer ponds in them. We have one girl that goes skinny dipping when ever we aren't looking. So when she dose have a baby by her side we put her in one of our lots that doesn't take it for a swim. I have yet to catch her swimming on camera despite my best efforts. Some of our girls enjoy a sprinkler that they can either run under like they hate water or just stand in front of it hogging it all. If one of our water hoses gets a whole its like the forth of July early. 

Here are two videos of our horses playing in their water tanks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4rqVjVV5sA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay3tQNrJrWM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH9ypVd3gnU

Are there different kind of Miniature horses?

Fact: No

There are only Miniature horses. But breeders like to pretend there are sup-classes such as: micro mini, arab mini, draft, Quarter horses style, act. Since all breeds were taken to make the Miniature horses some will look more like a larger breed than others. In the showing world the arab style is more popular. Some people have come up with Micro minis which are nothing more than a Mini horses that is 30" or under. 

Now there is the dwarf mini horse. But saying they are a different kind of breed rather than just a mini would be like saying little people are different from tall people. The Dwarf mini horse is only a mini horse that inherited the dwarf gene from both parents, which is stronger in some bloodlines than others.

So people have come up with sub category names but its all by chance. You can have a 32" mare and 32" stallion and get a baby that gets 29"as a adult. You can have 2 horses that look nothing like an arab and get a baby that dose. 

If a horse is born 10" tall dose it guarantee they will be 30" tall full grown

I have been called about this a lot. People ask if our babies were 10" when born because they herd that if they were they would be 30" tall when they are adults? This is impossible. Unless there are breeders all over the world that don't want to contest for the tital of World Smalles horse. The worlds smallest Mini horse ever born was born 14 inches tall and 6 pound. That was Einstein who has toped out at 25".

• The average weight of a newborn miniature horse is 18lb. 
• The average height at birth is 21 inches

So do not fall for this. If a baby was born 10" tall it would be in the world records. We have had babies born at 20" and never grow since then, and we have had babies born at 18" and grow to 34". The hight of a mini horse is best determend at their end hight at age 3. Some people have found that if you underfeed a young horse they will not grow, then when you get them on your food regiment all of a sudden you have a horse that was 31" that got 48" (This has happened to us). 

Birth hight has nothing to do with end hight. There is no guarantee unless you don't feed your babies to keep them under size. So don't look for that mythical mini baby that is 10" tall at birth unless its a dwarf and even the worlds smallest dwarf wasn't that small when she was born. 

Dose my Miniature horse need shelter, barn, or be indoors

We feel that they really don't but always have the option for them to get into a barn. You will often find you mini will stand in the rain rather than stand in the barn. Mini's like all horses will stand in the rain to wash the dirt off or wash away bugs. BUT KEEP A LOOK OUT. Your mini's can get rain rot (where they get something like a sore on their back from all the rain and damp in their hair) this can only be a real worry in older horses or in VERY wet weather. If you have a hay manger where you see that the hay builds up on their back brush it out. It will hold wet and cause rain rot. Personally we have a barn of some kind in every lot and our horses will never use them. They stand under the trees if it's really wild weather. 

We found that if you have a lot of horses (though it looks awful) old truck trailers with the weals  and axils taken off. They are nice, long, and sturdy, don't rust or rot, and just last longer. For our smaller horses, such as our weanlings, my dad build some very large dog houses for them. But in this case only one horse can be in the dog house at a time so you will have to have one for every horse. 

Winter weather is just like all weather. You won't have to worry about rain rot with snow. And so long as your horse is outside as the weather turns they will get a thick coat that will keep them warm and safe for snow and even ice. Just keep an eye out for total down poor that they don't get soaked to the skin and it freezes. But having a light sprinkle that freezes is ok. Just wiggle your fingers into that thick coat and if its dry your good. But thin horses, very old, or sick horses may need an eye.