So I have someone coming out in 45 minutes to look at my horse. He also has a paint horse that does extreme cowboy races. Fun, right? Well, I've always shown pleasure and never trail rode - so it'd be a change of pace. We talked, I told him I was open to x amount or possibly trade. He has nice horses - he is actually the same person who bred and trained my horse. But, now I'm fighting with my head....do I want a riding horse or go the opposite direction and get a mini with a cart and start out in a new thing (something I always thought would be fun)? Actually, if I did end up trading him - it'd be a new thing, too. Pros/Cons? I know some about minis and really having to watch them on grass and being fed. But, can they be contained in horse fencing? Are mini shows just as common as riding horse shows? Obviously I can only truly answer this in the end - but I am open to opinions. I have one other horse - who is a pasture puff as she is never sound from a very bad infection she had last year. I have a three strand electro-braid fence and individual 12x12 stalls.
Trade him for a horse. Minis are cute, but more to manage, there are not a lot of shows for them, only two registries, maybe three, and if you don't learn about driving before doing it, you can make some bad mistakes.
Here's the thing.... I love minis and I love driving, but they are a pain to take care of. They founder SO easy and if you don't have the proper facilities for them, it's a huge pain to keep them. I never had a good set up to keep minis off grass and etc. They always got out of my electric fence. I had to add a 3rd , lower wire and they still managed to climb thru in the winter bc the snow would get on that bottom wire and ground my fence. And honestly, the Mini's just weren't big / strong enuf to do the kind of driving (trail) I wanted to do. My 38" stocky mini even had a hard time on bigger hills. I think it would be a wiser choice to sell the horse outright and buy a 11-12h pony if you want to drive. But, that's just my opinion/experience.
Idk, wow. That's like saying I want to sell my car and might switch to a motorcycle in a way. Very, very different. I'd stick with what I know, but that's me. We were thinking ages ago about Welsh mountain ponies, but I'm glad we didn't as our finances went sideways. Driving you'd need to learn a whole new area. Totally up to you, but you've more flexibility with your horse.
Driving is SO fun.. and if you get a pony like I did for your first time driving, life is peachy. Mine was a 20 yr old pony and she was an old pro. She was so patient with me.
Hm. I would go with a horse because I think mini care is underestimated. Plus, who says you couldn´t train a horse to the cart? It´s not what qhs are bred for but a level-headed horse surely can learn to be driven?
They can, but they're a little more intimidating bc of size for beginner drivers. And I know that from experience lol
