The
Falabella Horse
The Falabella horse is a miniature horse with a very friendly character. They are naughty and playful and eager to learn. These horses can be very different in colour and markings.
The Falabella horse is a cross between different species of Criollo horses and, to a lesser extent, between European and Asian breeds. When the Americas were discovered, the Spanish horse was one of the noblest and strongest animal of Europe. It was a mix between the Oriental bloodline of a Moor breed from northern Africa and a regional Spanish breed. The Spanish horses taken to the South American continent were selected for their force and resistance so that they would withstand the harsh circumstances. During the unsuccessful first phase of the conquest the remnant of these horses were abandoned and natural selection began. The strongest and fittest of the next generations survived. The weakest died of diseases or fell prey to the native population or mountain lions. And so the best horses were ‘selected’ to produce offspring who could survive in this difficult environment.
It is unknown why some horses with the qualities of their forbearers got isolated from the rest of the herd. They probably lived in a smaller part of the southern hills of the province of present-day Buenos Aires. The inevitable cross-breeding with a still-unknown genetic change slowly gave way to smaller and smaller horses. This characteristic is being passed on from generation to generation.
The horses lived already since the 19th century in that region when an Irish horse-breeder, Newtall, discovered them in a wild herd: a group of small, perfectly-built horses of which the origin could not be explained by the local inhabitants. After all, these small horses lived already for such a long time between the work horses of the Indians. Newtall caught some and started breeding as a hobby maybe because their unusual size reminded him of what he once saw in his own country. Not long after he gave his herd to his son in law, J. Falabella, who since then breeds the family horses. Towards the end of the 19th century, blood of other breeds were used to refine the proportions of the small horses. |
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| The process to achieve this has nowhere been documented and maybe we will never know. Eventually in 1930 originated the type as we now know it. |
Buying
Although the size of the miniature horse gives the impression of not needing a lot of care, is this the wrong impression. Just like a big horse, he needs good care, attention and a comfortable stable. So before taking the decision to buy, make sure that you will have enough time and the possibility to take well care of your horse. This will be beneficial to both of you because a happy and healthy animal is a joy to be with.
Each breed has its own advantages and drawbacks, its own qualities and impossibilities so it is important to know before buying what the demands and expectations for this horse will be. The financial side plays a role as well. A specific breed, depending on its qualities and/or rareness, will be more costly than others. Thorough-bred or not, breeding qualities, stallion or mare, all this will determine the selling-price. It is impossible to buy a well-bred horse, which conforms to all the requirements, at a low price.
In general, lovers of the miniature horse are pleased to talk about their animal and give explanations. And you can learn a lot from attending shows, taking a good look around and talking to the people there. Also go to ‘Events’ in this website for further information. Reading books and surfing on internet will be helpful too.
Note that there is an option here to go to ‘links’ for each breed description given. There, amongst other information, you will find, for instance, the breed society and other breeders of this specific breed. We hope that our website gives you already enough information to help you along. And if you have more questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Care
What do miniature horses eat and how much? How often should they be vermifuged and with what? How often to shoe the hoofs? Do they need shelter or can they stay outside? Do they need daily brushing? How much care do they actually need?
Lots of questions to which there is not one ready-made answer. But there are directives which are helpful depending on how the animals are kept and what is done with them. Are they regularly being ridden or driven? Are they used for breeding? Do they go to shows? All this influences the care. So by combining directives with your own observations and consulting your vet and farrier, optimum care can be given.
Each person has his own opinion about how the animals have to be taken care of but it is always good to listen to the opinion of others. Still, you know your own animals best and know the situation in which they live so in the end follow your own heart, then not much can go wrong.
What everybody will agree with is that the animals always need lots of hay, clean water, exercise and the possibility of shelter. Of course vaccinations and vermifuge are necessary for their health.
Some useful:
- A directive for feeding is that a horse, per 100 kg body weight, needs 1 kg of hay (raw feed) and 0.5 kg power-feed. Depending on the work they are doing, add 0,2 to 0,5 power-feed per one hour of work. Divide the feed up into several portions a day.
- Make sure that they always have a licking-stone. These exist with minerals or with salt. What’s available more in one, is available less in the other so I decided to offer both.
- During August/September horse-flies lay their eggs in the horses’ coat which the horses swallow when scratching or licking themselves. So it is extremely important that the vermifuge used also contains a substance to kill the horse-fly larvae.
- The most important larvae are killed by “ivermectine’ contained in the vermifuge substance. The brand or the price of the vermifuge used is not important as long it has “ivermectine” in it.
- Influenza-inoculation is usually done once a year. However, its maximum effectiveness is only about 8 months. It is often advised to vaccinate mares in foal a few weeks before giving birth and also to vaccinate for the winter months. This made me decide to vaccinate my horses twice a year.
- Foals are vaccinated with a long-working antibiotic which protects against infections entering via the navel. This should be administered within 24 hours after birth. The possibility of an infection is fairly small though especially if the foal is born in a clean environment and if the navel is properly disinfected. But in the case of an infection, there is the risk of an articular disease. For me, the decision to vaccinate or not depends on the environment in which the birth has taken place. Discuss this with your vet before the foal will be born so proper action can be taken on time.
Diseases
This is not a very nice subject to read or write about. When reading about it in books I would almost stop working with animals because so much can go wrong. But then, we humans have a much longer ‘wash-list’ of problems and diseases and I am still walking around being healthy. So I read it to be informed and when a problem arises I know where to find information. I want to keep level-headed about it and certainly do not want to panick. I try to use common sense and when in doubt consult my vet. They are the specialists. We have to start somewhere and we learn from our mistakes.