Supplies Needed

• Pledge
• Brasso brass cleaner
• A soft cloth or two to clean with, preferably microfiber or an old tshirt
• Rubber glove (optional)
• Old toothbrush (optional)

Instructions

1. I start with the brass on my harness because the cleaner can get on the leather. Put on your glove and either put some Brasso on the cloth, or on your glove, and rub it in a circular motion on each brass part of your harness. The more tarnished the brass is, the more you’ll need to rub to clean it up.
2. Once you’ve restored the shine, use a clean portion of your rag to wipe off the rest of the product.
3. Repeat for the rest of the brass on your harness. TIP: Unbuckle each piece to work on it, then redo the buckle before you continue so you don’t change the way your harness is fitted for your horse! You can use the opposite side of the harness to remind yourself where to redo the buckle.
4. If your cloth is covered in Brasso, use a different cloth for cleaning with Pledge. Spray the pledge on your cloth (NOT on the harness) and rub it on the leather portions of the harness, taking care to avoid the embroidery.
5. For hard to reach areas of the harness, spray Pledge on the toothbrush and gently use it to clean those areas, then wipe them dry with the cloth.
6. Repeat until you’ve finished cleaning your harness!
7. Head to an AMHA show and get it dirty again!

Find your next miniature horse driving prospect with Little America. We have foals by LR Phantom’s Secret Storm, son of 35-time World Champion Single Pleasure Driving and Roadster horse, Silver Meadow’s Phantom Storm.

We also own 22-time AMHA World Single Pleasure Driving and Roadster winner, Lymrick’s Irresistible Force, “Guinness” and have his progeny for sale. Not only has Guinness won World Reserve Grand Champion Single Pleasure Driving Horse in both open and amateur, but he’s also been World Grand Champion Roadster Horse at AMHA World!

The post How to Clean a Miniature Horse Driving Harness appeared first on Little America Miniature Horses.

I thought it might be fun to offer an aerial tour as well.

The picture above shows most of the ranch; it’s just missing one corner, the pasture where we keep the stallions in the winter.  This is the only photo that shows the back pasture where we keep many of the horses in the winter.

You can see evidence of the drought we’ve had in this picture, it’s been a very dry year!

We have three major barns that we use for the horses.  The one at the top of the photo above is our main barn.  The show string, our geldings, yearling and two-year-old colts and fillies live here.  The barn farthest to the right in the picture is our hay barn as well as a shelter for horses in that pen/pasture.  And finally, everyone’s favorite, the foaling barn is at the bottom of the photo.  The foaling barn has six stalls with closed-circuit cameras that run to the house where we can watch for mares to go into labor.  The mares who seem to be farther from foaling spend the night in the lot to the left of the barn so they can be checked on during the night.

The view above really points out the terracing of the land, which helps prevent erosion in those pastures.  That land is split into several pastures by electric fences.  During breeding season, we put one stallion and a specific group of mares in each of these pastures.

A big thanks to my friend Matt for flying me around the ranch and putting up with all of my cameras!

Here are some video clips from the flight:

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“Jumps for Hunters and Jumpers will be made of 1-1 1/2″ schedule 40 PVC piping or other suitable light-weight material with jump cups, not to include pegs, nails, bolts, etc.  All jumps must be a minimum of five (5) feet wide… Jumps thirty-two inches (32) or more in height must have a second rail added.  All post and rail jumps must have a ground pole.  Uprights are to be a maximum of forty-eight (48) inches in height. …Any decorations or jump wings must not protrude more than twenty-four (24) inches from the uprights.”

Supplies

• ??— 10′ length of Schedule 40, 1.5″ diameter PVC pipe (Use the underlined totals in the directions to calculate how many 10′ lengths you will need according to how many jumps you want to make, and which height of uprights you want–hunter and/or jumper.)

  

• 2-4 — 1.5″ PVC caps (2 for hunter uprights, 2 for jumper uprights)
• 2– 1.5″ PVC T connectors
• 2-6– 2″ PVC T connectors (For jump cups. 2 for hunter uprights, 4 for jumper uprights because jumps over 32″ in height must have a second pole added to keep horses from running under.. trust me, I had it happen at a show once when the rule wasn’t followed!  I like to have a cup/D-ring on both sets of uprights so I don’t have to change them out when I switch from hunter to jumper)
• 4– 1.5″ PVC Elbow connectors
• 2-6– D-rings (To hold jump cups. 2 for hunter uprights, 4 for jumper uprights. I like to have a cup/D-ring on both sets of uprights so I don’t have to change them out when I switch from hunter to jumper)
• 12– 1″ Sheet metal screws
• Saw
• Drill and bits
• Screwdriver

Directions

1. Cut the 1.5″ diameter PVC into the following lengths:

• Long side of base and jump pole length: 5′ (x3 for hunter, x4 for jumper) = (15′ of PVC used for only hunter, 20′ if doing jumper for an extra jump pole)
• Short side of base length: 10″ (x4) = 40″= (3.33′ of PVC used)
• Jumper uprights: 4′ (x2) = (8′ of PVC used)
• Hunter uprights: 3′ (x2) = (6′ of PVC used)

2.  Now it’s time to assemble the base!  Attach one 10″ piece to each of the two opposite ends of the T (x2) to form the sides of the base.
3.  Attach the elbows to the open ends of the 10″ pieces that are attached to the T (x4), with the open end of the T facing straight up so the uprights can go in later.
4.  Use two of the 5′ lengths to attach the two ends of the base and complete the rectangular base.
5.  Place the uprights in the T on the jump.  Put a cap on the top of each jumper or hunter upright pole.
7.  Use your measuring tape to mark where you will drill holes on the uprights:

• Hunter: By AMHA rules, hunter jumps have a minimum jump pole height of 18 inches and maximum of 28 inches, so I recommend starting with a hole at 18 inches, and ending at 28.
• Jumper: By AMHA rules, jumper jumps have a maximum jump pole height of 44  inches, so you don’t need holes past 44 inches from the ground.

8.  Time to drill holes for the uprights!  Grab a bit that’s bigger than the peg of the D-ring you’ll be using.  It’s hard to get the holes aligned perfectly through the upright and through the cup later, so you’ll want some wiggle room.  Get them as straight through both sides of the pvc as you can.
9.  Now onto the jump cups.  Take your oversized Ts and cut out a little more than half of the  section that branches out (see below).  You want it to be a little over half gone so it makes it easier for the jump pole to fall down.  That way your jump doesn’t get broken when a horse hits it!  Then drill a hole through both sides for the D-ring to go through.

10.  To keep the base together, I recommend that you use sheet metal screws.  You DON’T want to use PVC glue, because if any piece gets broken, you’ll have to cut it off and splice it together.  With the screws, everything stays together but if something gets broken, you can take it off without cutting.  We use screws at every connection point on the base except where the uprights go in.

11.  The final step is to put the jump cups on the up uprights, pins in, and adjust the length of your jump poles.  For measuring everything out, it’s easiest to use 5′ for jump poles, but for them to fall out of the jump easily, they need a few more inches taken off.  Just put the poles in the cups and see how much you want taken off, it should be at least two inches.

12.  Congratulations!  You’re now finished and can enjoy your jumps!  To learn how to make striped jump poles, visit our other blog post, How to: Paint Obstacle/Jump Poles.

The post How to: Build jumps appeared first on Little America Miniature Horses.

project and decided I’d use it to enhance our obstacle/jump course.  Since then, I was given three more cans of paint (one that’s fluorescent yellow!), so I’m now working on some more jump poles and figured I’d share the main way I go about painting them, as well as a few other options for having decorated obstacle poles.

Supplies

• • • PVC pipe of the diameter and length you want
    • Spray paint suitable for plastic surfaces (one or more colors)
    • 1″ masking tape
    • Several feet of string (length of the pole or could use a measuring tape instead)
    • A pencil
    • Two plastic bags (I use bread bags)
    • A sandwich bag or regular plastic bag (to protect your hand while spraying)
    • Two clothespins
    • A couple of paper towels or an old sponge
    • Scissors

Directions

1. Read the directions on your spray paint can to make sure it’s an appropriate day for painting!

   

2. Wet a paper towel or  and clean any dirt off of the PVC pipe that is to be painted.

   

3. ***For if you want to have a base color instead of white.  If not, move on to question number four*** shake up the paint and then put the sandwich bag on your hand to keep the paint off and spray away!  I hold one end of the pole up while I spray.

   

4. Get a piece of string and cut it to be the same length as the pole.  Decide on a width/spacing for your stripes, then use the string to measure even spaces/stripes by folding in half and marking it with a permanent marker or tying knots in the string at appropriate spots.  You could also use a measuring tape instead and skip this step, I just find the string to be foolproof, I have a tendency to mess up numbers!

   

5. Use a pencil to mark the appropriate spots along your rope or measuring tape.

   

6. Run masking tape around the pipe along the outer-most side of each stripe’s pencil marks (My pictures end here because I realized that previous poles that I had painted with this paint were fading because the paint was NOT for plastic!  Make sure you use paint that is for plastic.)
7. Make a hole smaller than the pole’s diameter in each of the bread bags and pull them onto the pole, stopping at the middle of the masking tape.  You don’t want any paint to leak past the tape, so use a clothespin to secure each bag and keep it out of your way.
8. Follow the directions on your spray paint can to get it ready.
9. Prop the pole up or just hold one end up with a hand.
10. Put the sandwich bag on the hand you’ll be spraying with!!  You could also use a rubber glove or bigger plastic bag.  Trust me, if you don’t use something, you’ll end up looking like you have chickenpox or something weird going on with your hand for several days.  I learned this the hard way after doing my first poles in red!
11. Apply second coat after around 10 minutes (or whatever your directions say), if you want.
12. Allow it to dry, then move the bags to the next stripe to be painted!

    

–Lauren Greaves

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Miniature Horses as Pets

Miniatures are great as pets/companion animals.  They’re smaller than “big” horses so they can be kept in the back yard just as you’d keep a dog or cat, and are lower maintenance than other breeds of horses.  They take up less space, eat less, make less of a mess, and don’t require shoes like many other breeds.  They can be handled by children (I started showing when I was 3), or by the elderly (one of our customers bought a mini for his mother’s 96th birthday).  Any age will do.  For people who are intimidated by big horses or had an accident with them in the past, or just don’t have the energy for them anymore, miniatures are the perfect alternative to still be able to enjoy the beauty of the horse.

Showing Miniature Horses

At shows you can do anything you do with a big horse except for ride.  That might sound like a joke at first, like there’s nothing left if you take riding away, but boy would you be wrong.  The two major associations for miniature horses, the American Miniature Horse Assciation (AMHA), and the American Miniature Horse Registry (AMHR) and their clubs offer halter, color, liberty, showmanship, jumper, hunter, obstacle, driving obstacle, and costume classes to youth, amateur and open exhibitors at local, regional, and world level shows.

Miniature Horses as Therapy Animals

Many have probably heard about miniatures being used as therapy animals.  The seeing-eye-miniature horse idea got some publicity for a while there.  However, our favorite use of them therapy-wise is done by Hearts and Hooves.  Hearts and Hooves is a non-profit organization that takes miniatures to hospitals, nursing homes, and many other places to provide emotional healing.
Finally, miniatures, like many other animals, can be used as investments.  Developing a winning history in the show ring can increase a miniatures value, as can breeding.

–Lauren Greaves

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