Everything You Need to Know About The Smallest Horse
The smallest horse breed in the world is actually raised in Argentina, and are known as Falabellas. The American standard of miniature horse is born of many strains, and as such is not recognized by any official equine association. But they truly do exist, and have made the Guinness Book Of World Records for over 14 years running. Hope, a 21 inch high (at the withers), miniature horse held the record of the world’s smallest horse until 2001, when along came the amazingly sweet Black Beauty. At merely 18 inches high, she held tight to her Guinness thrown, and to her spot on the couch in front of the television, for 5 years. In 2007, a pretty little bay by the name of Thumbelina measured in at an astounding 17 ½ inches at the withers, and is still holding on as the world’s smallest horse.
Thumbelina enjoys sleeping in the farmyard doghouse when she isn’t frequenting The Today Show and country wide charity functions. It seems that she has no idea how truly little she is, and is fully respected by even the largest animals on the farm. They say that animals don’t know their size, and Thumbelina proves that they must be right.
She was born in early May of 2001, weighing in at an alarming 8 ½ pounds. This is merely ounces heavier than the average newborn human. Riddled with detrimental health issues, including weak lungs, Thumbelina had to fight her way through infancy, and fight she most certainly did. She emerged from all the worrisome trials as an energetic, sweet, and comical addition to the Goose Creek Farms family.
Thumbelina, and the world record holding horses before her, is actually a dwarf miniature horse. Dwarfism occurs in many mammals, even humans. It is a birth defect, and was not expected or intended to happen. Thumbelina’s owners joke that she is a mini mini, and this isn’t too far from the truth. Weighing just 57 pounds, she is a horse who eats one cup of grain per day, and merely nibbles at her hay. Quite a far cry from the worlds largest horse, the Belgian giant known as Radar. He stands 6 feet 7 ½ inches at the withers, and weighs in at a whopping 2407 pounds. He eats more than Thumbelina’s weight per day, consuming 18 pounds of grain and 40 pounds of hay in a twenty four hour period.
The standard miniature horse stands between 25 and 34 inches at the withers, and weighs anywhere between 73 and 140 pounds, depending on how lazy he chooses to be! Good luck to the miraculous little Thumbelina and her tiny peers.