Miniature horse ‘with attitude’ struts his stuff

Izzy, a five-year-old registered Dutch miniature horse “with attitude”, was caught on camera trotting alongside an arena in which a dressage horse was being worked — showing some impressive elevation. Owner Margot Thomas, from Doorwerth in the Netherlands, told H&H: “I bought Izzy to keep my dressage stallion Eston company. Eston is a 16.2hh Dutch warmblood and Izzy is only 33.5 inches but still has attitude. His full name is Izzy Grey of Saman Stables because of his silver dapple colour. “Eston wasn’t very sure of him at first but they now get along very well. Most people keep their stallions alone but I wanted Eston to have a friend, Eston is a softie and Izzy is the bossy one. On the day of the video my friend was training her dressage horse Vanquish and Izzy started having fun wanting to join in and show off. He did this about five times. ” Margot, who has owned Izzy for a month, plans to train him in liberty work. “I’m training him in [in-hand] dressage, he has the talent. We are going to do tricks like bowing and I want to teach him passage on command but that will take a bit more time. He has picked up how to do Spanish walk in just a few days.” “I’m going to take him to some miniature horse shows.” For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday. In the current edition (9 August) don’t miss our feature on hand-rearing and interview with Rowan Willis, full reports from the Festival of British Eventing anf the London Global Champions Tour, as well as much more.