World's smallest horse

Thumbelina is a five-year-old dwarf miniature horse. At 17.5 inches, she is the smallest living horse in the world.

At just over 17 inches tall, the miniature horse is more inclined to walk under fences than jump over them.

And her owners have sheltered the mare from ever gaining 'circus sideshow' or 'one-trick-pony' status. As the

 world's smallest horse, five-year-old Thumbelina, weighing in at 57 pounds, has a bigger mission: to raise $1 million for children's charities this year.

Handler Michael Goessling, son of miniature horse farmers Kay and Paul Goessling, says Thumbelina is the ideal child advocate.

Her name comes from the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale of a woman the size of a thumb. "When kids meet her in person, they want to talk to her and know what she likes and dislikes," Goessling said.

"It's amazing because she is so loving with people. She craves attention." In the months after being named 'World's Smallest Living Horse' by Guinness World Records last summer, Thumbelina has certainly not been short on attention.

She has been showered with praise on the television talk-show circuit. The flow of schoolchildren who visit her is constant, and many leave with colouring books dedicated to the Goessling family pet. "I'll have her out for hours. She's so mild mannered, everything just seems to brush off her shoulders.

There have been 100 kids around petting her and she'll take a nap," Goessling said. When Thumbelina travels the country this year, she will do so in style, in a recreational vehicle that is her converted stable on wheels. Goessling calls it the Thumby Mobile.

An upcoming 'Thumbelina Children's Tour' is expected to include stops in the 48 contiguous (nearby) states at children's hospitals, schools, summer camps, fairs, horse shows and charitable fundraisers.

At Goose Creek Farms, the Goesslings breed miniatures for sale and for horse show competitions, a hobby that has brought them numerous ribbons for more than a decade.

But Thumbelina's special. "We don't want to make a penny off of her," Michael Goessling said. "We never have. There will never be another Thumbelina." Most of her days are spent playing with like size farm dogs. She even sleeps in a dog house.

The family calls her a 'miniature-miniature' and genetically, she is a dwarf. Rules of nature say it is a bad idea for her to reproduce, Goessling said. Thumbelina often avoids the company of her taller, but still unusually small counterparts. Of the 40 or so miniature horses stabled on the ranch, most are more than a foot taller than Thumbelina.

The tiny horse and her charitable foundation have helped raise about $10,000 for children's charities since she gained world record status as the smallest horse ever recorded, at 17 1/2 inches at the withers, or the highest part of the back of a horse, located between the shoulder blades.

When a Guinness official came from London to certify the record, a photograph was taken of Thumbelina and the world's largest living horse, Radar, a Belgium Draft horse from Texas standing at 6-foot-7, about 40 times larger than Thumbelina. She was not intimidated (feeling threatened).

City Times

Bright children and vegetarianism

There is evidence to show that intelligence is associated with health and survival. In a study involving 8000 British men and women, it has been shown that intelligence in childhood is associated with a vegetarian diet in mid-adulthood, and this was independent of educational and social class.

According to a randomised trial, it has been found that higher intakes of vegetables, legumes, fruits and bread (as well as more fish and chicken instead of red meat) were associated with reduced total mortality (deaths), death from heart disease and incident cancer in men who had survived myocardial infarction (heart attack).

An analysis of five prospective studies found that vegetarians had a mortality rate 76 per cent lower than that of non-vegetarians after adjusting for age, gender and smoking. The trial found that intelligence is associated with food choice independent of educational attainment.

If diet does mediate the effect of intelligence on other health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease (e.g. heart attacks and strokes), colorectal cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, then people should be encouraged to eat healthy diet including more vegetables and fruits and avoid red meat and large fish such as tuna (which contains mercury).

This type of approach should begin with parents encouraging children to eat healthily. Parents and school teachers should make an important contribution to the development of healthy food choices, so that the children, when they grow up, will have lower risk of high blood cholesterol, lower risk of heart attacks, cancer, hypertension (high blood pressure), obesity, diabetes and avoidance of smoking.

Vegetarianism may be viewed by those of higher intelligence as a healthier option than eating meat. Higher scores for 1. Q in childhood are associated with an increased likelihood of vegetarianism in adulthood.

D.P. Atukorale,
Senior Consultant,
Cardiologist.