W&S Miniature Horse Farm
Breeding small correct colorful horses
About our farm...
Welcome to our website. We are a small family owned/operated farm in the beautiful mountains of east Tennessee. Our farm consists of approximately 15 mature miniature horses, a couple of riding horses, and a few other furry friends. We began our adventure into the miniature horse world in 2002 when we bought our daughter ,Caitlin, her first pony for her birthday. And it was a pony, a gorgeous shetland pony about 40 inches tall. At that time we didn't really know the difference between a miniature and a pony (as I think a lot of people don't). We soon leanred and still our minis get called ponies quiet often. Well this was in the summer, the following spring we bought a little "miniature filly" for a companion to Rainee, and THAT WAS IT!! We were hooked on these amazing small equines. We have learned a lot about minis from then until now through experience and through the help of some very nice people we have met along the way.
In the very beginning we brought the horses into our lives simply because we loved them and they were what we liked. Well along the way these past 7 or so years it has become somewhat of a business for us. Which we loved the horses and most of the people, but as many competetive big farms do (which they have to to be competetive) we began buying the horses that other people would want to buy. For example, instead of buying this sweet little mare who's average or maybe only registered R, you buy the mare with the better pedigree even if she's not as friendly and hard to catch or something because in the end your result will be a foal who you are trying to sell. And of course for some the 2nd foal will sell better. And by doing this we have sold several really nice horses in the past, which if I had to do over again I would not.
Well let me tell you that was o.k. for a while but it got old fast. Everything was more bussiness than pleasure and after all, we began in this for the enjoyment of it (and with all the sleepless nights during foaling season you'd better enjoy it!) And I am not saying anything bad about big farms, there are many nice ones out there that I can recommend to you but for us it just did not work that way. We do everything for our horses ourself. It is my husband William (Ivis) and I, Shanda, and our 3 children- Caitlin, Masen, and Brayden, at the present time their ages are 11,6,&4. In keeping our number of horses smaller we are better able to take care of them (deworming, hooves trimmed, and vetted regularly) as we both work full time jobs also. Everyone around here pitches in and we get a lot of enjoyment out of our horses and a lot of Work too! But there is nothing any better than after having a bad day, going out into your pasture and having a newly born foal or one of your precious broodmares come up and love on you. That is what it is all about!
We do usually have a few foals for sale each year, so check back often. We have horses registered with AMHA, AMHR and some are both. And yes, our bloodlines too can stand up to anyones. Our horses carry both the old foundation bloodlines such as Komokos, Dell Teras, Bond, and the more recent sought after lines of Lucky Fours, Sids Rebel, LTD, and there are many others, but most importantly all of our horses are very sweet natured and have wonderful tempermants with an emphasis on their conformation, color, and size. We have solids, overos, toveros, homozygous tobianos, and a couple of appaloosas and around here blue eyes are a Big plus!
We welcome visitors to our farm and as mentioned above our horses are very sociable and like people. They do not going running past you or in the other direction when you enter the field, and we are proud of that. We handle our horses daily and we are there when our foals are born and handle them from the beginning to make for a very well socialized little horse. If in the area give us a call, we'd love to have you over to share our enjoyment with you.
This is Caitlin and Rainee on a beautiful fall day in 2003.
