Tiny Trots Trainer Is Expecting Four Future Show Horses This Year

Linda Ruen watched like a new mom as the newborn took her first tentative steps.

“You just pray for a healthy baby,” she said.

“Then you hope you get a filly.”

Nearby, a gray cotton ball on shaky legs took to a jerky gallop across the scrubby winter pasture at Ruen’s mini-ranch. This is the second birth this spring of horses smaller than a Labrador retriever.

Ruen is trainer, caretaker and midwife for 16 miniature horses. She expects four new babies this year.

A divorced mother of three, Ruen wanted to stay home with her three boys. So she settled on miniature horses as a hobby and business.

“I’ve always been a horse person,” the Rathdrum woman said. “When I saw miniatures, I thought they were the cutest things … I just love ‘em.”

She imported her stock from Texas several years ago and started breeding them. By definition, miniatures are less than 36 inches high at the shoulder, but the most prized are under 34 inches.

Now Memory Lane Miniature Horses boasts a list of championship awards from local and regional horse shows, and miniature horses are a hot item among hobby ranchers. Inquiries about purchasing horses have come from around the region, Canada and even Switzerland. An Internet site displays horses for sale.

Ruen is active in the Inland Empire Miniature Horse Club, which sponsors a handful of shows beginning in June.

When the baby boom is over, Ruen will start training for the show ring, where some owners hook these tiny steeds to small carts.

She breeds her spunky stallion, Peppytante - who bucks and snorts like a wild mustang - with mares that are affectionate and docile.

“You should get a good show baby from that,” Ruen said. “When you get into the show ring, you want a little of that show-off attitude.”