There’s a story at Wired about the world’s smallest horse. Named Einstein, he was “…born in late April on a farm in New Hampshire. Weighing in at 6 pounds at birth, Einstein appears to have beaten the previous record holder by three whole pounds.” See, Could a Mini Horse Be Bred Small Enough to Fit in Your Palm?
The science of animal husbandry that leads to really small horses is still advancing, despite some unknowns. Einstein may now be the world’s smallest horse, but much smaller horses may be possible. We may see horses that really could fit in one’s palm.
Two quick points.
If horses could really be that small, municipal ordinances against horses in Whitewater wouldn’t make sense. Even now, one can see from a photo accompanying the Wired story that Einstein is much smaller than a Saint Bernard. There are few horses like this, but some of them are small enough to render current ordinances outdated, and increasingly irrational. Circumstance and ingenuity run beyond regulatory imagination.
I would also support continued research and breeding of small horses like this. Breeders may make discoveries useful for humans health, through what they learn about genetics from breeding these small horses. That knowledge might be significant, and about matters far more important than developing lines of miniature horses.
Breeders have an incentive to produce happy, healthy horses without government regulation. The Wired story mentions that the limits on human behavior are private and culture, not public and legal:
The real limits then, may not be genetic, but cultural. At some point, it may become difficult to get healthy, tiny horses. To breed ever smaller horses, we might have to deal with a lot of deformed animals.
“It brings up this question of personal responsibility and what’s humane and what’s inhumane. That’s something the tone of which will be set by public opinion,” [university geneticist] Brooks said. “I don’t think we’re at the point that we’re breeding monsters. I don’t think we’re there but maybe we will be.”
The way [Einstein’s owner] Cantrell sees it, avoiding the downsides of mini breeding comes down to the individual breeders. “It’s just like with dogs: There are puppy mills, and there are mini mills,” he noted. Einstein is more a lucky break than an attempt to breed the smallest horse. Both of his parents are champion 30-inch show horses. He just happened to come out lilliputian.
Cantrell argued that despite the difficulty of breeding the minis, it’s worth it because they provide humans with a special feeling that standard horses cannot.
“When you get up close and personal to a miniature horse that is 30 inches tall, there is something about being able to touch him and walk with him in a very calm and safe manner, where you don’t feel like you’re going to be stomped to death,” Cantrell said.
Below I have embedded a video of Einstein, available through YouTube, in which one can see that although he’s tiny, he seems happy and well-adjusted.
Enjoy.