April 28, 2010
AOL
The owners of what may be the world's smallest horse have some big plans for the little guy.
Photo: Dr. Rachel Wagner holds a ruler next to a 3-day-old pinto stallion named Einstein in Barnstead, N.H., on Sunday. The diminutive horse could lay claim to the world record for lightweight foal. Einstein weighed just 6 pounds and measured 14 inches tall when he was born Friday. (AP)
The half-pint horse, whose name is Einstein, was born Sunday at Tiz A Miniature Horse Farm in Barnstead, N.H., and came into this world at a whopping 6 pounds and 14 inches tall.
That's quite small, especially considering the average miniature horse weighs 18 pounds at birth and stands 21 inches tall.
Naturally, folks are making a big deal about the tiny horse, which has already inspired a stampede of worldwide media coverage, so it's no wonder than Einstein's owners, married couple Charles Cantrell and Dr. Rachel Wagner, have big plans for him -- starting with his name.
Cantrell, a consultant for live performers, says he and his wife, who live in Washington but summer in New Hampshire, named Einstein after scientist Albert Einstein to send a message to people.
"We named him Einstein to remind people to be intelligent when buying miniature horses," Cantrell said. "Their small size makes them more susceptible to predators, and their constitution can't handle weather extremes like bigger horses. You have to have an equine background to raise them."
Cantrell and Wagner, a family practitioner, already have one miniature horse, which they purchased so their niece could learn horsemanship, and a normal sized horse for dressage.
Right now, they are waiting for Einstein to stand up before he goes through a complete confirmation to determine whether he has the marks of a champion.
It looks pretty good based on his pedigree. Einstein's father is Painted Feather, a national champion, and his mother is Finesse, a New England champion.
Photo: This 14-inch, three-day-old pinto stallion, named Einstein weighed just six pounds on April 25, when it was born in Barnstead, N.H. It could lay claim to the record as the world's smallest horse. (AP)
"He comes from a line of good quality miniature horses," Cantrell said. "Strong, healthy and conformed with no signs of dwarfism."
This is key, he says, because some breeders focus so much on the size issue that they create unhealthy horses that suffer from dwarfism. He says this doesn't seem to be the case with Einstein, since his body parts seem to be in proportion with each other.
Cantrell and Wagner weren't there at Einstein's birth. He says that happened at 3 a.m., when Judy Smith, the owner of the horse farm, heard the rustling in the stable.
"She had a video camera and a microphone focused on [Finesse] and had a good idea when the birth was going to happen based on the gestation period," Cantrell said. "She heard the noise and ran to the stable, and when she saw the baby, he was so small she thought that, at first, he was stillborn."
Luckily, he wasn't. Cantrell says that when Smith told him and his wife about the new horse over breakfast that morning, "we both fell in love with him and decided to purchase him."
Although there is some cache to owning a horse that preliminary records suggest could be the smallest ever born, Cantrell says the reasons for purchasing Einstein were also humanitarian.
"We decided we had to buy him and keep him at Judy's farm so someone else didn't put him in a circus."
Photo: Ms Wagner watches as Einstein meets a horse named Play My Heart. (AAP)
Still, Einstein better get used to living in a media circus. Cantrell and Wagner are.
"He's doing pretty well right now," Cantrell said. "We limit his exposure to us to 15 minutes a day. On the other hand, Rachel and I are literally getting thousands of e-mails a day and hundreds of phone calls."
To Cantrell's eyes, Einstein looks like a champion, but whether he can compete on that level won't be determined for a few weeks. Still, even if he has the mark of a champ, Cantrell won't push him into it like some wannabe child star's overeager stage mother.
"He looks to be championship quality, and, if he is, we will definitely show him," Cantrell said. "But we're not sure we want to go on the show circuit. That's a big investment in time."
There is another option, however, and it's one many larger horses might envy.
"We may stud him out if it's determined he can have offspring," Cantrell said. "However, there aren't many horses born this small, and there is no guarantee that any offspring will be as small as him."
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