Falabella Pony

Falabella is the world’s smallest breed, with withers that never exceed 86 cm. The breed comes from Argentina and is named after the family Falabella, who created the breed by crossing the small English Thoroughbred with Shetland ponies and criollo horses. Falabella horses often live to be very old, approximately 40-50 years.

They are primarily kept as pets and are kind and wise. The smallest living falabella is a mare named Thumbelina, who is only 43 centimeters high at the shoulders and weighed 25 kg. The smallest horse ever was a stallion named Little Pumpkin.

The Falabella does not count as a pony, but instead is in the miniature horse category as it is built the same way as large horses. There are only about 170 top pedigree falabella in Sweden. Falabella is such a small animal that it is not ridden, but is common in shows and exhibitions where they also presented for their driving speed. Falabella usually have one or two fewer ribs than other horses.

The breed was already being developed in 1868, by Patrick Newell, using local horses and criollo horses imported from Spain. Newell applied a strict breeding of very small criollo to produce a much smaller type of breed. But when Newell died, Newell’s in-law, Juan Falabella, inherited the herd and the breeding program.

The breed continued to develop at the Falabella family ranch, Recreo de Roca, outside Buenos Aires in Argentina. Juan crossed some more races in an attempt to make the breed even smaller and to dilute the blood lines no. He imported horses from Britain, among other things, Welsh Ponies, Shetland Ponies and really small English thoroughbred. With an easy-planned inbreeding, which crossed the smallest offspring with each other, he managed to get really small horses, especially a stallion named Little Pumpkin who was to become very important for the breeding of the Falabella. Little Pumpkin counts today as the breed’s stud colt.

In 1940, the breeding was reviewed by Juan’s descendant, Julio C. Falabella, and he started a record for the small horses, which he called Establecimiento Falabella. The name of this was later changed to the “Asociacion de criadores de Caballos Falabella (or, Falabella Horse Breeders Association). Here Julio was working hard to develop a standard, especially for the permitted height at the withers, which then stood at about 1 meter.

A few years later, farmers who were active in the union voted for the new allowable height at the withers to be a mere 78 cm. One of the absolute smallest offspring, named Sugar Dumpling, belonging to Smith McCoy of Rudder Field, West Virginia, USA. This horse was only 51 inches at the shoulders and weighed only 13.5 kg. He held the record until Thumbelina took over, as she is 43 inches at the shoulders. Her weight, however, is a considerable bit more at 25 kg.

Today Falabella are gaining in popularity, but are still quite rare. There are about 900 registered falabella, of which about 170 of them are registered in Sweden. It is estimated that there are only a few thousand Falabella horses worldwide.

Attributes

The Falabella horses are kind and wise, and show off many beautiful colors including variegated colors such as Pinto and the popular polka dots, the so-called brindle color. This demonstrates the influence that comes from the Spanish horses that lay in the foundation of the criollo. The specimens are usually very well kept by their owners, who value them highly as a companion or show animal.