Story from Jam Press (Mini Horse Dog)
Pictured: Jimmy the mini horse with his friends and owener Siobhan O'Kelly.
Adorable mini steed thinks he's more horse than hound
This adorable mini steed isn’t horsing around, he really does think he is a dog and even takes his fido friends for a walkies.
Jimmy, who lives in Devon, is a miniature American horse, which means he’s even smaller than a Shetland Pony and stands just over three-foot-tall.
But being small is NEIGH obstacle to Jimmy making friends, and now he’s become leader of a group of dogs cared for by his owner Siobhan O’Kelly.
Ms O’Kelly, a dog walker and trainer, has taken extra care to ensure her horse and hounds have become fully used to one another by socialising them regularly.
But Ms O’Kelly was stunned when Jimmy took to his canine pals at a canter and has now become her very own leader of the pack horse. As these photographs show, five-year-old Jimmy looks more like right at home with his pooch pals and sometimes Ms O’Kelly has to reign in the excitement when he greets them.
Just like a dog Jimmy hilariously copies “sniffing their bottoms”, likes to groom them and even sometimes grads a lead between his teeth and walks them.
Ms O’Kelly, who runs Wild Walks, said Jimmy almost gallops up to the gate of his paddock to greet his hound herd every morning and night.
She said: “He loves his dog friends, he sniffs their bottoms as he copies them which can be funny to watch, he likes to try and groom them and occasionally he had taken a dogs lead and led them.
“His favourite was a dog called Oscar but unfortunately he passed away, he now loves Delilah the most, she is a Jack Russell.
“Delilah and Jimmy will spend at least 10 minutes in the morning grooming each other or following each other.
“Delilah is very popular in the business, so she ends up going off with the other dogs to play, until she is tired and then always comes back to Jimmy.
“Jimmy will r