Ask Stacy Rolfe if she has a miniature horse for sale, and she will tell you that all 19 of her “babies” are spending the remainder of their lives on her R&R Ranch, which she owns with her husband, Dave, in Wildwood, Missouri.
Ask if she will bring a horse to a birthday party for children to ride, and her answer will be a stern “no,” followed by a passionate dissertation on how miniature horses are frequently mistreated, abandoned or quickly resold by owners.
Her position as head wrangler of a herd of miniature horses was never a plan, or even a dream. But, at the request of her daughter, Belle, who grew up with a horse and pony, the family adopted two “minis” as pets in February 2014.
“We did not build our home on the property until 2015, and we had to board the horses,” Stacy says. “After our home was built, we had acquired and were boarding so many miniature horses that the barn we had planned for three horses had become a barn for 20 horses. We built that in 2016.”
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Within days after acquiring the first mini horses, named Sherman and Mackenzie, Stacy quickly learned that due to their small size, miniature horses require much more attention and financial commitment than is needed for a full-size horse.
“Because they are so small, people expect them to be less work, but their small size frequently results in health issues,” she says.
