Continuing our long tradition of espousing the virtues of dwarfism and breeding animals as tiny as possible regardless of the health consequences (i.e. adorability!), we bring you a contender for world's smallest horse. This thing should be painted pink or lavender immediately!
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Your gut reaction is probably that the question is irrelevant; what parent would choose for their child to have a genetic disease. That was my reaction.
Compare the elegant grace of a running wolf with the comical shuffl
Riverdance Miniatures in Victoria, Australia may have set a new record for the world's smallest horse. This prematurely born foal stands only 15 inches high, or 3.3 "hands", in horse-speak. The previous record for a fully grown horse was 4 hands and 1 inch.
Wow. Well, Jerry Coyne has never been one for weak words.
I still think it's a very hopeful departure for Australian wildlife - that thing is only bizarre, not bizarre and poisonous as practically everything else over there.
Sorry, but there are 2 adorable things in this video. Are all Aussie vets this hot?
I feel like if this was video of a human dwarf baby and they had it staring at a giant normal sized human skull, that wouldn't be well received.
I was thinking something similar once they panned over to the skull. Does the little horsey even recognize that as a horse's head?
Anyway, as a collector of vintage My Little Pony toys (I regret nothing), the first thing I noticed was the fact that he is only maybe twice as big, at best, as the original My Pretty Pony (see link). And he's the spitting image of her too!
I wish people would stop intentionally breeding these things. This one's tiny even by the standards of miniature horses. Most people don't understand that most of the contenders for "worlds smallest horse" suffer from dwarfism in addition to the small stature appropriate for their breed. Koda has already undergone several surgeries to correct deformities related to his dwarfism, and his owners anticipate more surgery in his future.
There are beautifully-conformed miniature horses out there, but this isn't one of them. Showcasing extreme specimens such as this one only encourages irresponsible breeders to treat short stature as the only desirable trait, to the exclusion of good conformation and the overall health of their animals.
End of rant.
Can has itty bitty kitteh?
Oh, and mjwalrus - yep, all Aussie vets are that hot. As an Australian, I can tell you that everyone here is totally smoking, it's awesome.
Evolutionary Winner.
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