Why a Miniature?

Whoah, cool! Not sure if you had noticed, but as I'm writing this, my blog is at 500 views. Epicness! :D

Anyway, I'll get on to my point, but just wanted to say that. (: Even though most of the views seem to be coming from myself, that's still cool, and thank you for reading this. :) Don't leave yet, please!

So, why would someone even want a miniature horse? You cannot ride them (unless you weigh around 50 pounds or less), and they're almost not even a horse, but...they are a horse. They have the same normal instincts as horses, can have the same illnesses, and are basically a shrunken horse. However, that's what causes the main differences- the lack of large size results in different uses than a big horse.

In a way, Miniature's are almost more of a companion than real horse. The only transportational use they have is only enabled if they are trained to drive (as in, pull a cart). Other than that, they're just for chilling with.

Their size does have its advantages, though. They eat less, require less space, are cheaper to buy, use less wormer, and would work splendid as a very young horse crazy girl's horse. I mean, think about it. If you had an eight year old girl, would you rather entrust her to a trained giant (comparably) horse, that she can barely lead around, OR a trained Miniature horse, that's just her size? Personally, I'd choose the latter. Besides, it hurts a lot less when a Mini's hoof lands on your foot.

To me, I think of a mini as a good start to being around horses, an awesome horsey companion, and a great opportunity to get into training horses and the like. Oh yeah, another neat thing about Minis? They're actually used as sight guides for those whom are blind.

Just one more advantage of the Miniature horse- it seems they would work great as a therapy horse. Or a good way for a horse-liking person who is scared of big horses to overcome their fear.

Anyway, that's all. :) Here are some pictures of some Miniatures that we showed at the fair.

Angel Eyes, the Miniature that I showed. Doesn't her profile almost look like a Thoroughbred here?

Angel has a beautiful tail, even if I do say so myself.

Toy, another Miniature mare, and a champ at showing.

Warrior, our double-stuffed oreo cookie stud.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! :) To one and all, I hope you had a completely splendid day. :) And don't just remember Christ as the reason for the season, I tell you- God is the one and only reason for *existence*. And He loves you. Yeah, I know. It IS awesome. :)

With that said, spread the cheer! :)

An Online, Interactive, Horse Color Genetics Game

Whilst browsing around on Tuesday evening, I found a very well put-together game. More than that, though, it was a horse color genetics game. And interactive. :D

Here is the link: http://www.jenniferhoffman.net/horse/horse-color-genetics.html Kudos to Jennifer Hoffman for making this wonderful tool!

If you start from the actual webpage (I just linked you to the game itself), a guided tour will explain colors and alleles as you go along.

The thing I didn't like about the guided game was that it didn't record previous changes to the horse's color. For example, I had the horse as a seal bay, I proceeded to the next color gene, and the horse changed to a bay, chestnut, black, or otherwise. What?

For that reason I skipped to the end, where I could change any and all alleles, and all at the same time.

It seems people really, really, like this game. One of the comments complained that the game allows you to make impossible colors (such as being homozygous white, which produces a foal that dies in embryo). However, that has been fixed. Now, if you'll try it, you'll be able to have one copy of the white gene, but with both of the copies, the horse vanishes and the text says "Embryonic Lethal". The game also is accurate so far as the four linked or almost-linked KIT alleles.

Another accurate feature - it shows the gray (G) gene as dominant. You can have a multitude of colors underneath, but if a horse has the gray gene in it's phenotype, this will cover everything except white (or pinto) markings.

Interested in horse color genetics? Read more articles here!

Here's a replica of the stable's AQHA stud, Billy. :)

The Silver (Dapple) Gene

Just recently, I've dived (just a short dive though) back into horse genetics, colors, and research. This time, however, I have a specific area that I'm gaining knowledge on- the Silver (Z^Z gene).

It really is an interesting gene. Similar to the Cream and Champagne genes, it is a dilution gene. However, it goes a smidgen more complex than just that- the Z^Z allele will only affect eumelanin; that is, black hair color. The only other melanin in horses is pheomelanin (the red/brown/yellow coloring), and that is left unaffected.

Before I get to the fun part, there are a few more factors to cover. The Z^Z gene is located on horse Chromosome 6, in the PMEL17 gene. It is a simple dominant allele, so if a horse has this trait, it will appear in the phenotype. The one exception to this is if the horse is a chestnut, in which case it'll take either breeding or testing to tell.

EDIT: The gene may not be a simple dominant allele. Please read my later blog post on it! 

By breeding, let me use this example to explain what I mean: If you breed your chestnut mare to a black stud, and produce a silver bay, you then know that your mare carries silver-positive allele.

Sure, one may think that breeding to find out true color (which one cannot always find through this method) saves you...say, $40 by not testing. However, if color is an element of your breeding program, and you can scrap together 40 bucks, do it. It isn't that hard- just follow the instructions here.

Okay, yay! Time for the fun stuff. :) Let's start with a few base colors + silver gene = the answer.

Black + Z^Z = Chocolate (or Blue) Silver
Bay + Z^Z = Bay Silver
Chestnut + Z^Z = Chestnut (but carries the Silver allele)

And of course, there are combinations of base color + Silver + other dilution or extension genes. However, I'll save that for another time.

Do you remember the Miniature mare that foaled out this June? She's actually a silver, as she has all the characteristics that the Silver allele elicits, and her sire had the allele. I'm almost certain that she's a seal bay silver, but nothing's been verified.

If you don't want to go digging through my awesome blog posts to find the picture of Bunny, here she is. And who knows, maybe Dove will be a Silver carrier as well. (:

Bunny, a Silver Dapple mare

Umm, wait a second....

So, I was going to write a blog post here about horses. Except, I'm not sure what to write about horses. I mean, they're great and all, but wasn't I superbly busy? That I was, and still am. Ah well, may as well say something here.

So, around Thanksgiving weekend I saved a miniature filly, and possibly from death (let's hope not, though). I was at the stables, showing some relatives around the place. It just so happened that the owners had left to go eat, and I found Echo, a miniature palomino filly had gotten her hind leg stuck in the fence.

It almost looked like her leg was woven in between the wire, and I kinda doubt she could have gotten out of it by herself. So, actually knowing what to do, I grabbed onto her muddy little hoof and got her un-stuck. It was actually quite easy, and I'm really grateful it was calm little Echo, not the wayyyy rowdier (and older/bigger) colts.

And, that was that. Other than having kinda dirty hands, I felt really good about it. :) I like saving horses.

Also, if you peel a fair mass of carrots, please, instead of tossing the peelings in the trash, just find some horses to give them to. :) They'll enjoy them, I'm sure, and never once have I heard of a horse that was allergic to carrots.

Crazy Busy

Yes, I know this is another boring filler. I just don't want you to forget about my blog.

Anyway, lately I've been crazy busy. Other than my school and standard responsibilities, I'm having more chores added to my checklist, and I have to take over helping Mom school the kids (as my older sister is gone, and will be gone for another week). Ugh.

So, you probably won't see any annoying fillers or awesome posts until later.

Till then, peace out, munch on carrots, love horses, and don't forget to help this blog by +1ing the posts, and telling any horsey friends about it.