The highest horse and the world's shortest horse

Big Jake, the horse with the highest record in the world, has a height of 210cm, nearly 5 times higher than the world's shortest horse named Thumbelina.

Highest horse in the world

Big Jake is a Belgian horse.(Photo: CNN).

Big Jake became famous in 2012 when he was awarded the highest horse title in the world by Guinness World Records, according to CNN. The 17-year-old horse came from one of the world's strongest and heaviest draft breeds, Belgian horses."I bought it when I was a young horse about three years old from my relatives because it was too big for them," said Jerry Gilbert, a horse breeder, Smokey Hollow rancher in Wisconsin, USA. .

According to Gilbert, when his family kept an eye on the horse, they knew Jake was one of the biggest horses they had ever seen."It's big since birth, weighs about 109 kg but has a good genome. That's what we look for in horse-drawn breeding. We look for shape and good weight , " Gilbert said.

When Jake was about 7-8 years old, the Gilbert family realized it might be the tallest horse in the world."I contacted the Guinness Foundation in 2010 when Jake was 9. We decided to let him retire at that time and sometimes he would play if needed," Gilbert said.

Guinness World Records measured Jake's height of 210.2cm and officially recognized it as the tallest living horse in the world. The average height of Belgian horses is about 163 - 173cm. With that height, Big Jake ate twice as much food as a normal size horse."We try to limit everything and give him three buckets of cereal a day in the morning, noon and evening. We give it 23kg of oats, vitamins, minerals and other things," Gilbert said.

It is very important to maintain weight for Jake."Many people try to make their horses gain as much weight as possible, that's a bad thing for their joints. That may be related to photographs. If the horse weighs nearly half a ton, it looks it will be bigger but we don't want to do that with Jake, " Gilbert said.

Thumbelina is less than half a meter tall.(Photo: CNN).

Thumbelina, a red-brown 17-year-old mare belonging to the mini horse, is the smallest horse in the world. In 2002, it was officially confirmed by Guinness World Records Organization with a height of 44.5cm. The horse was born with dwarf syndrome at Goose Creek Farm in St Louis, Missouri.

"It was only 15cm high when it was born , " said Michael Goessling, owner of Thumbelina. "I thought there was an opossum in the cage because it was too tiny. Suddenly he stood up and I could not believe what I was seeing. For comparison, a mini-pony young was usually 48 - tall. 51 cm and Thumbelina never reached that height, " Goessling said.

Compare the height of Big Jake and Thumbelina.(Photo: CNN).

The two owners Kay and Paul Goessling were very worried about Thumbelina's health because he had dwarfism, but the horse proved that everyone thought wrong and that he was still healthy from birth. It also doesn't mind its size."From the first day it really didn't notice how small it was. It was completely fearless," Goessling said.

Goessling remembers when Guinness Records' staff came to take a picture of Thumbelina, they brought along the highest horse at the time."We released Thumbelina and they let Radar, the tallest horse, stand there. He suddenly rushed to bite Radar and ran away. He stood on the ground, uninterested in other horses but always sweet, calm and gentle to young children, " Goessling said.