Big Jake, the horse holding the highest world record, is 210cm tall, nearly 5 times longer than the world’s shortest horse named Thumbelina.
The biggest horse in the world
Big Jake rose to fame in 2012 when he was awarded the title of the tallest horse in the world by the Guinness World Records Organization, according to CNN. The 17-year-old comes from one of the strongest and heaviest draft horse breeds in the world, the Belgian horse. “I bought him when he was a foal about three years old from my parents because he was too big for them,” said Jerry Gilbert, breeder, owner of Smokey Hollow in Wisconsin, USA. .
According to Gilbert, when his family looked after the horse, they knew Jake was one of the biggest horses they had ever seen. “He’s huge from birth, weighs around 109 kg but has a good genome. This is what we were looking for in the draft horse. We were looking for good form and a good weight, ”said Gilbert.
When Jake was around 7-8 years old, the Gilbert family realized he could be the tallest horse in the world. “I contacted Guinness in 2010 when Jake was nine. We decided to retire him at the time and he played occasionally if needed,” Gilbert said.
The Guinness World Records Organization measures Jake’s height of 210.2 cm and officially recognizes him as the tallest living horse in the world. The average size of the Belgian horse is around 163 to 173 cm. At this height, Big Jake eats twice as much food as a full-sized horse. “We try to limit everything and give him three buckets of cereal a day in the morning, at noon and in the evening. We give him 23 kilos of oats, vitamins, minerals, etc. ”, explains Gilbert.
Maintaining Jake’s weight is very important. “A lot of people try to make their horses gain as much weight as possible, which is bad for their joints. It could have something to do with pictures. If the horse weighs almost half a ton, it looks like it is. . “will be taller, but we don’t want to do that with Jake,” Gilbert says.
The smallest horse in the world. Thumbelina, a 17 year old reddish brown mare of a miniature pony breed, is the smallest horse in the world. In 2002, he was officially confirmed by the Guinness World Records Organization with a height of 44.5 cm. The horse was born with dwarfism at Goose Creek Farm in St. Louis, Missouri.
“He was only six inches tall when he was born,” said Michael Goessling, owner of Thumbelina. “I thought there was a possum in the barn because it was too small. Suddenly he stood up and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. For comparison, a miniature stallion is typically 48 – tall. 51 cm and Thumbelina never reached that height, ”Goessling said.
Owners Kay and Paul Goessling are very concerned about Thumbelina’s health due to dwarf syndrome, but the horse proves people were wrong and has been healthy from birth. He also doesn’t care about his size. “From day one he really didn’t notice how small it was. It was completely fearless, ”says Goessling.
Goessling recalled that when Guinness staff came to take a photo of Thumbelina, they were carrying the tallest horse at the time. “We let go of Thumbelina and they let the Radar, the bigger horse, stand there. He suddenly rushed over to bite the Radar’s nose and ran away. He stood on the ground, ignoring the other horses but still gentle, calm and gentle with children, ”said Goessling.
