Hi: I'm new here and since "Helen" was already taken, I chose "tuppence" for "my two cents' worth" --

My husband and I have three rescue mares of normal horse size but a few days ago a friend brought over a couple of minis as she has to get rid of her stock for financial reasons and wanted her minis here or nowhere. While we appreciated the compliment, we have never had minis before -- and these two have problems...

Our vet is on vacation and so we are scouring the internet and learning all we can as fast as we can. Anything those with experience can add will be appreciated.

"Papa" is about 35, and a well-formed dwarf mini. He needs dental work which we will get taken care of asap. In the meantime his weight is good -- maybe a little bit over but not bad. We have put him on about a half a cup of beet pulp pellets, soaked, about half a cup of equine senior, a scoop of glucosamine/MSM -- twice a day. Plus some grass hay. His hooves are cool and he seems fine with that.

"Teddi" is a deformed dwarf mini yearling. Front legs are curved and she stumbles. No normal teats, just a skin flap. She has bulging eyes and appears to be very 'hard of seeing'. Does better in the shade than in the sun for sight. Definite underbite. We are feeding her the same as Papa. She is more slender but not malnourished at all.

Wormed both with Safeguard -- about an ounce or a little more of the pelletized wormer -- today. They loved it. They are both extremely friendly and sweet-tempered, which I understand is normal for these little ones.

Because Teddi is 'mouthy' and likes to check things out by nibbling, we went down to the feed store and picked up a couple of dog toys -- a fairly large ball on a good-sized rope and another rubber ball, about a foot wide, with one of those "handles" on the end that an animal can grab on to. She was nosing them around and seemed quite curious about them. Neither horse seems to know the meaning of fear! Everything is worth exploring.

They are both sweet and both in need of care we wish to provide intelligently. So all advice will be read and considered and we are grateful for any input we can get into this new venture (by the way, our older, full-sized mares do not like them at all and so the two little ones have their own enclosure and stall which opens out to it).

Thanks.
Helen Setterfield (tuppence)

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