The Hope sisters bred SHETLAND Ponies.
King Henry VIII ordered all stallions under 13.2hh, not "miniature horses" to be destroyed- it did not work though as there were so many Mountain and Moorland Ponies running wild that the Pony breeds survived.
This is the sort of inaccuracy that gives rise to this nonsense about Miniature Horses.
They most certainly have NOT been bred for five hundred years, although the odd Shetland that looked like a Miniature Horse would undoubtedly have surfaced now and again, as this is what gave rise to the Miniature Horse in the first place.
The horses used in
open caste Mines were sometimes Welsh Cobs and Cob crosses- also the Sec C cob was used in some of the higher ceilinged mines- the ones that were not so far down.
The Shetland Pony was the only beastie used underground in the deep pits- here at least and in Europe.
I do know in America, Sable Island Ponies and, I would presume but do not know for sure, Chincoteague Ponies were used in mines- I would think basically what was easiest to get was used.
I also know for a fact (we were researching a book at the time) that
boatloads of Shetlands were exported to America in the late 1800's, and on into the new Century.
As I have said, wearily, many, many times, Miniature Horse were bred, by Humans, to look pretty, from Shetland Ponies, and have not really existed until the 20th Century.
If they had existed in the Royal Courts there would have been pictures of them- there are many, many pictures of Royal and well to do families, and their children were well documented, too.
There are human dwarfs in lots of these pictures, monkeys, dogs, tiny little lap dogs, irish wolfhounds etc, etc.
There are NO "Miniature Horses".
There are not even any dwarf horses.
Since everything else is well documented, I take their absence to mean they were not there, they did not exist.
Queen Victoria had a team of Cream Ponies to pull a carriage in which she took the air at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, they were subsequently bred and were used in London Zoo- until recently there were some still at Whipsnade Zoo- but I do not knew if they still have any.
They were about 12.00hh- small for the Victorian age, so also beware of use of the word "miniature" in Historical references- and were all Cream with pale eyes- similar to American Creams.
They were predominantly Welsh with, as far as we could find out, some Dartmoor blood.
They were NOT Miniature Horses!!
By the time Lady Fisher was breeding, if she had done this cross (Arab X Falabella) she would have registered it, as I did, as a part bred Arab.
Lady Fisher said she did a lot of things - like owning Falabellas- that were not actually , how shall I put this??-
provable.
Falabellas were bred form Shetland mares exported, for the better part, from Shetland itself, to Argentina for that purpose.
I do think the story about finding a spotted stallion in a Gaucho camp may well be true as all "legends" have to have some grounding in truth.
The Falabella Family are undoubtedly the first people to have intentionally bred to get a Miniature Horse, and obviously, since the first breeding stock, stock has been bought in and animals upgraded, all the time.
Although it started out as a hobby, it was still done seriously from the start .
