Could a Mini Horse Be Bred Small Enough to Fit in Your Palm?
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The world’s smallest horse 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.
But Einstein probably won’t hold his place in the Guinness Book of World Records forever, because there may be no limit to how tiny we can make our horses, said equine geneticist Samantha Brooks of Cornell University. But to get teacup horses will take many generations of breeding.
“In the last 50 years, breeders have made very good progress at making a very small horse, but they periodically hit these speed bumps,” said Brooks. “It takes a while to work them out so that you end up with a horse that not only fits in the palm of your hand but is happy and healthy.”
In recent years, the genetic underpinnings of height and size in mammals have generated increasing interest from scientists. In 2007, genetics researchers made the surprising finding that a single gene plays a very large role in reg
