Oh my squee! Apparently this little horse’s name is Einstein, and he is the smallest stallion ever born! Which also makes him the most squee! stallion ever born, amirite?
Via Lolcreatures
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The Itty Bittiest Horse Ever Born
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XD omg COMMENTS!?!?
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Cute yeah, but man, they gotta stop doing this to horses. The little guys often have so many problems.
That horse would be perfect for my Cabbage Patch Kid. If only I had a horse like that 15 years ago.
awwwwwwwww
If I hadn’t seen this video I would’ve sworn that pic was a dog with a horse head photoshopped on.
I remember playing with my barbies horses as a kid and wishing I could really have one that size.
That bulging forehead cannot be a good sign.
He may not look “Dwarfy” to quote the Vet. But he looks odd, his rump slopes and the tail head doesn’t look right either.
He looks fine. Shetland ponies are often small like that when they are born, but I guess he just happened to be a little smaller. I think hes gonna be just fine. ^_^
He’s not, actually. Mini horses come with a whole raft of problems which Shetlands do not suffer from, many of the dwarfism genes are extremely damaging, and this horse seems to have neurological issues.
Also, I guess you didn’t notice the pasterns. That is a deformity that I doubt if he will grow out of.
I agree with weaslygyrl and elsie – I saw this pic and did not go ‘squee’, just felt immediately concerned for such… almost cosmetic, horses. Just because we can do a thing, doesn’t mean we should.
Good luck, Einstein!
The race to breed the smallest horse ever is littered with the corpses of horribly deformed tiny horses. The breeders who go for this often have up to 40% foal mortality, and over 20% mare mortality. This horse itself definitely has problems; according to the owners, when it was born it had such lack of mobility that they at first thought it was dead.
http://www.minibreeders.com/horsieheaven/ — these have memorial pages for a few of the many mini horses who survived anywhere from days to a few months. Don’t click unless you have a strong stomach.
This may not be the cheeriest thing in the world to put on a “daily squee” page, but seriously — you need to be aware that the effort to breed “cute” tiny animals often carries a huge cost to the health and lives of the animals themselves, which is anything but cute.
I have a friend that bred minis for about 20 years. This little guy looks terrific, by the breed standards. Look at his mum. The forehead bump smooths out and the hindquarters will square up with a little time.
Unfortunately, minis DO have a high rates of birth defects, sometimes bad enough that the foal has to be put down. This just adds to a very high mortality rate amoung foals. I think my friend thought that JUST a 40% loss was a good year. The way that little Einstein is prancing around makes me think he is about as close to perfect as his breed can be.
An interesting idea was put forth a few years ago of training miniature horses to act in place of seeing eye dogs and assistance dogs. They are smarter and remain healthy and able to work for quite a bit longer than even the bests dogs. They trained some and it really was working out well! They adapted well to city life and had no problems with vehicles, elevators, and apartment living. Obviously they needed special adaptive shoes to handle the concrete and hard flooring, but they came up with something that looks a lot like tennis shoes that go over their hooves and regular shoes, that cushioned the horses and protected floors from their little iron shoes. Unfortunately, I don’t know what’s become of the project in the last couple of years.
He is a dwarf and if you look at later pictures of him, he is becoming even more roach-backed and doesn’t look like the breed standard for miniature horses at all. He will require extensive veterinary care to keep him comfortable, and he will probably have a much shorter life. Dwarf horses are not healthy or natural, just like teacup dogs. While he is cute, he is not what the horse world needs. A responsible horse breeder steers away from simply “aesthetic” animals. He should be gelded as soon as possible to prevent the gene being passed on. Giving him, and more specifically his breeders, positive attention simply encourages others to breed more like him, regardless of health problems. Most of the knowledgeable horse world is not happy with the attention he is receiving.
Regular-sized miniature horses are small enough to become guide-horses, there is no need to miniaturize to this point of irresponsibility. He would require more help than he could give!
Also, he is not a Shetland, nor is the bulge natural.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/10/29/1401592/tiny-horse-einstein-brings-big.html
Actually this image of him as an adult shows the bulge has smoothed out and his legs have squared up. He’s a healthy happy horse.