He may not be able to compete
in the Kentucky Derby, but he is surely as popular as the
winner.
And with appearances on Oprah
and across the U.S. it has certainly been an eventful first year
for Einstein, the world's smallest stallion, as he approaches his
birthday.
Standing just 20inches tall,
the horse attracted huge media interest when he was born in April
last year.
Now his quest to find buddies
and his life at home with owners Charlie Cantrell and Rachel Wagner
in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, will be published in a new a book to
celebrate his birthday.
'This has been a remarkable
year for us and for Einstein,' said Mr Cantrell, 44, who bought
Einstein for their small farm along with his wife
Rachel.
'We are both horse enthusiasts
and we decided to get ourselves a miniature horse from the renowned
breeder Judy Smith at a Miniature Horse Farm in New
Hampshire.
'Einstein is the smallest
horse on record ever to survive and when the news got out to the
media the level of interest was incredible.
'The average weight of a
newborn miniature horse is 18lb. The average height at birth is 21
inches.
Einstein is all the remarkable
because he shows no dwarf characteristics and is simply a very
small miniature horse.
His mother Finesse stands a
relatively tall 32 inches and his dad Painted Feather measures 30
inches
'Guinness approached us
straight after the original press that surrounded Einstein,' said
Mr Cantrell.
'He can't be officially
recognised as the smallest stallion until he is four, but we are
both relatively sure that he has stopped growing.'
With the press surrounding
him, it wasn't long before Einstein did make friends - of all
shapes and sizes.
He now spends his time
mingling with his giant friend Playboy - a full sized stallion -
and messing around with Charlie and Rachel's dog
Lilly.
'Playboy is owned by a young
lady who lives next to our farm and Einstein sometimes meets him to
have a head sniff and a simple hello,' explained
Charlie
'You see the adorable thing
about Einstein is that he doesn't seem to be too aware of his
height at all.
'He approaches Lilly and
Playboy just like he was a fully grown stallion. He rears up and
huffs and gallops around.
'However, due to his
extraordinary size he can't mingle around with other horses because
it would be dangerous and he might get trampled
underfoot.
'So him and Lilly kiss and say
hello, he knows a particularly friendly St Bernard at the farm he
was born at and we have a couple of Nigerian Dwarf Goats that he
spends time with here in New Hampshire.'
Living peacefully in his own
pen on his owners land, Einstein's first birthday is something that
GP Rachel and Charlie can't wait to share.
'He loves children and they of
course love him,' said Charlie.
'They get wide eyed because
they have never seen a horse this size before and they want to
smother him.
'However, he is so small, so
hopefully the book will satisfy everyone's desire to see Einstein
and his cute and unusual life.