TEXAS NEIGHBORS | SPRING 2018 By Jennifer Dorsett Field Editor Tony and Carol Greaves have been raising miniature horses in Buda for 23 years, but the passion goes back more than 55 years ago to when Tony was just a boy. “I was born into a horse family. My family had been raising Shet-land ponies my entire life,” he said. “In 1963, I told my dad I wanted to raise some of the smallest horses in the world at 22 inches tall. He said, ‘You’ll never get them that small!’ My smallest horse at that time was 36 inches tall.” Greaves’ first stallion he owned in high school was the breed stock foundation, and those bloodlines still exist in his herd today. Greaves said his father lived long enough to see him breed hors-es that were 28 inches tall, and now he has a stallion that is only 24-and-a-half inches tall. “If I live long enough, we’re going to get some nice 22-inch hors-es,” Greaves said. On their ranch, Little America Miniature Horses, the Greaves have 185 horses—the largest herd of miniatures in the United States. More than 60 of their horses are less than 28 inches tall, and Greaves sells the horses all over the world. “I’m known worldwide because I’ve specialized in the tiny hors-es,” Greaves said. “Most people have two or three horses less than 30 inches tall. It’s hard to find the little 28-or 27-inch horses. We’ve sent horses to Australia, Russia, Thailand, Hawaii and Alaska.” Due to their size, miniature horses require less space and feed than full-sized horses. “Miniature horses are the horse for everyone,” Greaves said. “A lot of people who had horses as a child may want a horse when they’re older, and because of the size of the miniatures, they’re just so much easier to take care of.” While miniature horses and ponies sometimes have a reputa-tion as ill-tempered, Greaves said that’s not the case for his horses. Little America horses have become show horses, jumper and hunter competitors, therapy work horses, trick performers and even drive small carts. “My goal is for every generation to be better than the last,” Greaves said. And to finally fulfill his dream of breeding a 22-inch-tall horse. WWW.TEXASFARMBUREAU.ORG