By Alyssa McCarthy Parker in From The Field on on Feb 23, 2015

I don’t know if there is ANYTHING cuter than a miniature horse. I fell in absolute love with the little guys and gals at Little America Miniature Horses. Tony and Carol Greaves were fantastic hosts and it was great to learn so much about a breed of horses that none of us really had any experience with.

It was also heartwarming to meet Tony’s “Thursday Kids,” a group of young kids from the surrounding areas that come to the barn after school to work with the minis. They learn all about grooming, training, handling, they work on an obstacle course, and several of them practice showmanship.

Among the Thursday Kids is a young man named Kameron, who is legally blind, but comes alive with confidence while he works with his favorite horse Rainbow. Together the pair has won several World Championships.

We can’t wait for y’all to see the segment on Little America Miniature Horses! Stay tuned for updates on when it will air!

Until next time,

Alyssa

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By: Lauren Giudice, Lily Morris and Joshua Fechter (reposted)
For over 50 years, Tony Greaves has been raising miniature horses. His love for horses began when he was young boy. His father raised Shetland ponies and horses.

Greaves and his family now own Little America Miniature Horses. He and his wife, Carol, live on their 200-acre ranch in Buda, TX. The two raise miniature horses to sell them or show them.

The number of horses they have varies, but they currently have 170 miniature horses. Greaves said miniature horses are created through selective breeding.

“When I first started 36 inches was considered little,” Greaves said. “I would pick a mare and a stallion and hope that their baby would be smaller. I also want every generation to be better. I look at the good points and the bad points of the horse. If the mare has bad legs I want to make sure I breed her to a stallion who has good legs.”

Bloodlines, color and size determine the price of the horses. The smaller the horse, the more expensive they are. Prices of Greaves’ horses range between $500-$50,000. Horses that are sold as pets are less expensive than those purchased for the purpose of showing or breeding.

People who show horses seek out the bloodlines of Greaves’ horses.
“They want my bloodlines to put in their line,” Greaves said. “I’ve been doing it for so long and I’ve gotten them so small that people who really want to breed small want a small stallion. Usually people have larger mares and breed them with a smaller stallion. But I have such a large group of little mares that I get more little babies.”
Greaves said many people confuse miniature horses with ponies. But, Shetland ponies are up to 48 inches tall and miniature horses are 34 inches or smaller. He prides himself on the fact that all of his horses are under 34 inches and 80 of them are under 30 inches.

Little America is known around the world and Greaves has sold horses to people in Russia, Australia, Scotland, Belgium and France.

The Internet has revolutionized how Greaves does business. He said 60 percent of the horses that he’s sold over the past five years have been purchased over the Internet.

Greaves’ goal has always been to raise a herd of 22-inch miniature horses. Recently, he bred a 24-inch horse named Fan Man. Greaves still aims to breed that perfect tiny herd.

“As far as I am concerned, the object of breeding any miniature animal is to breed the smallest, good confirmation animal that you can get,” Greaves said. “My goal is to breed the smallest perfect horse.”

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Just outside Buda, Tony Greaves raises some of the smallest horses in the world. There’s also a handful of tiny donkeys and one accidental tiny mule.

Greaves has been raising miniature horses for fifty years and runs Little America Miniature Horses. He started with horses that stood 36 inches at the shoulder. Through selective breeding, he’s gotten some as small as 25 inches. His dream is a horse that is only 22 inches tall.

“Growing up, I always liked the smallest ones,” he said.

Miniature horses make great pets, and many of the ones he sells to city-dwellers are used for therapy animals, going to visit hospitals, hospice care and troubled youth. Their gentle demeanors and fuzzy bodies make it hard to resist petting them.

“People love them as pets,” Greaves said. “In fact, a lot of people end up getting another one because they like to see them playing together.”

Miniature horses are easy to handle because of their size and make great pets for children and the elderly.

“Our motto is, ‘it’s the horse for everyone,’” Greaves said.

Price: Greaves’s horses start around $500 and average about $3,000.
Life expectancy: 20-30 years
Equipment: Large backyard, shelter to keep out of the sun and rain, brushes and combs.
Diet: Horse feed and hay
Upsides: Fertilizer and short lawn
Potential pitfalls: Find a large animal veterinarian early because they can be hard to find.

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FORT WORTH — Kameron Welma led a miniature horse around the ring, feeling the dirt floor with his small feet clad in cowboy boots.

Kameron peered out from under a large black cowboy hat and squinted at the judges. Born four months premature, the 9-year-old is legally blind.

Kameron, of Kyle, a suburb of Austin, won two third places Sunday at the Stock Show miniature horse show.

“I can’t see out of this eye,” Kameron said, pointing to his right eye while carrying his ribbons. “I can see really big stuff, just not the small stuff.”

Kameron was among the children from Thursday Kids, started by Lauren Greaves in the Austin suburb of Buda to introduce children to Little America Miniature Horses. Every Thursday after school, kids spend a couple of hours feeding, cleaning, brushing and learning about the horses.

Greaves, who began Thursday Kids as a high school student, asked her father, Tony, to continue the program when she left for college. She returned this year after graduating from Texas A&M and runs Thursday Kids with her parents.

“It gives the kids a sense of accomplishment and leadership and a creative outlet,” Lauren Greaves said. “And it teaches them about this wonderful breed.”

A miniature horse is no bigger than a large dog, according to the American Miniature Horse Association.

Drawn to the horses’ kind, gentle nature, the Greaves family owns about 170 miniature horses and provides them free to Thursday Kids families. Children as young as 3 have participated in the program.

More than three years ago, Sarah Johnson, 14, of Lockhart visited the Greaves’ home on a 4-H trip and then begged her mother to let her return. As an animal lover, she now looks forward to Thursdays all week.

“I just love the horses and love spending time with them,” Johnson said. “They’re smaller so you don’t feel scared at all.”

For Kameron, who cannot play team sports because of his eyesight, working with the horses has built self-confidence, said his father, Pete Welma.

“Having a commitment one day a week to clean stalls, brush and clean the horses and practice showing has taught him a lot about responsibility,” Pete Welma said. “It has been incredible for all the kids.”

  

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