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Famous people have acquired Falabellas; King Juan Carlos of Spain, the late King Hussein of Jordan, the Sultan of Brunei, Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai, Paul McCartney of The Beatles and the late US President John F Kennedy.
Having bred Falabella miniature horses for many years, it was not until 1997 that we finally had the opportunity to meet Senora Maria Luisa de Falabella. The Falabella Miniature Horse has been bred exclusively on her family ranch in Argentina for over 150 years. It is unique among other breeds of miniature horses due to its Argentinean bloodlines, created using the small Criollo horse – the gaucho’s workhorse of the pampas.
Several other breeds of horse were used in the development of the Falabella and they include Arabian, Andalusian, English Thoroughbred, Hackney and Appaloosa. Shetland Ponies were also used over one
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hundred years ago in order to reduce the height, though generally speaking, the taller examples of the breed are the most elegant and desirable for the show ring.
Falabella horses come in all colours but the appaloosa and the overo pintos are the rarest. The overos often have blue eyes (a colour gene indicator) and these are highly prized. They compete in shows with big horses and can enter the various colour and conformation classes.
Falabellas cope well with extremes of temperature but may require a full body clip in very hot climates until they lose their winter coats.
One of our proudest achievements was when the former British Champion Jockey, Willie Carson rode our tiniest stallion ‘Falabella Chico’ on Ascot race course for a charity press call. At the time Willie was riding exclusively for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum so was wearing the Sheikh’s racing colours in the photographs.
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