50cm Horse Born at Miniature Pony Centre

Faline · #1 ● 04-14-2013, 04:25 PM

One of the smallest horse foals in the country has taken her first steps at the Miniature Pony Centre on Dartmoor.

Sorrel is only 50 centimetres tall but managed to trek around her enclosure in Devon, accompanied by her mother Bottriel Swift.

Stud manager at the centre, Suzanne Dufty, who helped deliver the newborn, added: : ‘The birth was all very easy – and the mother gave birth herself. I helped so I was satisfied everything was fine.

‘Once the waters have broken it is all over very quickly. Before that you have her walking in circles and having contractions which can take a long time.

‘By the time I got there she was in the final stages and the actual birth was over in around a minute.’

Sorrel is the second foal to be born to five-year-old Bottriel and after spending some time with mum she will be introduced to the rest of the horses.

Kevin Ginsberg, who runs the centre, added: ‘Sorrel will be based at the centre. She will be bonding with her mother for a few months now.’