Welcome
back my fellow learners, today we are going to learn about the
smallest breed of horse in the world.
The
Falabella is a rare breed of miniature horse from Argentine, which is
kept pure by breeding only pure-bred Falabellas to other pure-breds
for many generations. It is thought to be the first and original
Miniature Horse breed ever, however, the size comes secondary to
their pure ancestry. It is a true pure-bred thanks to their unique
ancestry, which is just one of their greatest attributes. The other
is the Falabella name is recognized throughout the world. Breed
ancestry is kept pure by the Falabella Farm, and small groups of
breeders that wish to preserve their heritage. The Falabella is an
exquisite horse which has always been rare because of their limited
number within the gene pool. Estimates show that only a few thousand
exist in the world today. The most desirable feature of a Falabella
and its value is due to its pure ancestry. Falabellas are extremely
prestigious in their own right and are prized by people who have
one.
Several
historic facts and fables are told about the famous Falabella in
books and equine articles. It is said that the original Argentine
horses were direct descendants of the Andalusian and Spanish Barb
horses first introduced to Argentina by the Spaniards when they
arrived in the 15th century. These Spaniards however, were defeated
and their horses were left to run free. Over the centuries the
environment and inbreeding created a reduction in size and produced
small horses. In the 1840s, these equines were seen in herds close to
the southern Buenos Aires region by Patrick Newell, and he began to
build a herd with the smallest horses he could locate. It was from
here that selective breeding began to develop a natural small horse
.This started over 150 years ago, with Patrick and he passed his
knowledge to his son-in-law, Juan Falabella, who then in turn shared
his knowledge with Emilio his son Emilio, who then in turn passed it
on to his son, Julio.
No comments:
Post a Comment