I saw the most unusual horse today

I've been seeing this little horse near where I live. I have been telling my Mother about it. She never seemed to see it, and has been accusing me of seeing things when I tell her it is smaller than our Australian Shepherd dog.

Well, finally, today, we were going somewhere together, and I went by where the little horse lives, to show Mom. It was not in the field with the other (normal size) horses. But, Mom said - hey, there was a lady in the barn, lets stop in and ask her about it. So, I turned around, and feeling like a nut, pulled in and went up to the barn... "excuse me.... can we see your little horse?".... laughter from inside... Mom says... "see I told you that you were seeing things." A nice lady appears and says we are the second people to stop that morning. Laughs again. She says she is just about to get "Rosie" out of her stall for the day to go to pasture. Hold on.... She slides the stall door open.... and out walks this tiny little horse... and she's smaller than I thought!

She explains that she is a dwarf mini horse. She took her as a favor to a friend of a friend, whose barn where she was boarding was being sold, to be torn down for development. They cannot stable her just anywhere, as she can go right under board fence, or tensile wire. She must be kept in chain link, or something similar. This barn has pasture that used to hold a stallion and has very high (8'?) chain link.

She was so tiny. I told her I knew about mini horses, but never knew that there were dwarf minis. She said that they are sort of a mistake that happens when breeding for smaller and smaller minis and that the breeders really don't want people to know that they happen, as they don't want people to start wanting them, as they have to many health issues. She said most mini breeders euthanize the dwarfs that are born, because of health problems. She explained that this mare, (I think she said she was barely 21" tall) has liver issues that cause her to have fluid in the abdomen, and she did have a huge belly that almost drug the ground. She is just 4 years old, and is not expected to live much longer.

She's a dark dark bay. Her little hooves were not as big around as a soda can. Her muzzle was so tiny! You could tell she was dwarf, out of proportion, just like human dwarfs are. She smart though, just like a normal pony. She says she's top "horse" among the 4 she has - and the other 3 are normal sized! I asked if she is worried that someone will steal her. She said, no, as the one horse is very very protective of her, and won't let anyone near her out in the pasture. She said she's not afraid the big horses will hurt her... that they are very careful around her.

The lady said she intends to spoil her rotten for the days she has left. I wish I had a camera to take her picture with me, but I did not! The lady said it's funny - people stop their cars, drive by slow, turn around and come back - like they cannot believe their eyes. When I went by there last week, and saw the horses by the fence near the road, and she was right in there with the big horses, she barely came up to their knees!

Rosie was very sweet, and really enjoyed us petting and scratching her.

I'll try to take a camera the next few times I go that way and see if I can get a picture of her.

Just wondered if anyone else has seen one of these dwarf mini's?