Itty Bitty Hope's miniature breed mama mare didn't even look pregnant, but on June 18, there she was - an itty-bitty - small enough to tie the record for the world's smallest horse.
Linda and Jim Woods planned to buy the foal before she was even born. They have big plans for the fun-sized Hope - she is being trained as a therapy horse at Mini Hooves of Love, as HNGN previously reported. Since Hope will probably never grow any taller than 25 inches, she is the perfect little nugget to travel to hospitals and nursing homes.
"When you see a child or an adult ... and the first thing on their face is," Jim pauses to drop his jaw and put on a mock stare of awe, "that's a big flag ... that there's something to this."
While still too young to leave her mama, Hope is living with her breeder, Diana Gilder, who rocks Hope to sleep. "I'd rock all my babies when they were small enough," Gilder said. Hope is also getting used to human contact by playing with Gilder's children in the house.
"She is also learning, with aids of shoes and rubber hoof covers, to be able to walk on different surfaces such as tile and hardwood that normally would be difficult to maneuver on," Linda told Country Living.
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