American Miniature Horse

The American Miniature has been selectively bred to display in miniature the physical characteristics of a full-sized horse. It frequently has the appearance of either a small Arab or a small draft horse.^[3]: 434 Although its appearance is horse-like, it is genetically no different to pony breeds such as the Shetland.^[3]: 434

The American Shetland Pony Club registers horses in two sections: section A is for horses no taller than 34 in (86 cm), and section B for those standing up to 38 in (97 cm).^[3]: 434 The American Miniature Horse Association does not register any horse standing over 34 in (86 cm).^{[5]: 168 [6]} Height is not measured to the withers, as is usual in horses, but to the root of the last hair of the mane.^[5]: 168

All coat colors, eye colors, coat patterns and markings are equally acceptable for registration.^{[5]: 170 [6]} Some colors that are rare in full-sized American horses are seen in the breed, such as bay silver dapple – light bay with white mane and tail and black legs.^[5]: 170

The American Miniature Horse was developed in the twentieth century.^{[5]: 168 [7]} It appears to derive at least in part from animals brought to the USA from the United Kingdom.^[5]: 168 These may have included British and Dutch pit ponies imported in the late nineteenth century and used until the mid-twentieth century in the coal mines of the eastern and central United States, and some descendants of small horses bred in England in the first half of the twentieth century by Lady Estella Mary Hope and her sister Lady Dorothea.^[5]: 168

In 1972 the American Shetland Pony Club started a stud-book for the miniatures, called the American Miniature Horse Registry.^{[5]: 168 [8]} A separate breed association, the American Miniature Horse Association, was formed in 1978.^{[5]: 168 [9]}

In 2005 almost 150,000 horses were registered in the American Shetland Pony Club stud-book, and the American Miniature Horse Association register held over 160,000.^[5]: 170

The American Miniature is distributed throughout the United States, and is also present in Germany and the United Kingdom.^{[5]: 170 [10][11]}