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Falabella Collection 11.06.2016 Falabella Collection In 1991, after some fifteen years, Lord and Lady Fisher of Kilverstone in Norfolk, England decided to close down their highly acclaimed wild life park, the main attraction of which was their extraordinary herd of Falabella Miniature Horses. These unique horses come originally from South America but their origins are obscure. Some say that a herd of horses had been trapped by a landslide in a canyon where the only food available was the local cacti and after many generations the genetic mutation occurred and others speak of the Cayak indians possessing the secret……… The extraordinary and unique mystery is that each generation produces a smaller horse. They are not ponies but perfectly proportioned miniature horses. Further, when a Falabella stallion is crossed with a 1 mare of a larger breed, the offspring are mainly tinier versions of the mare. The elegance and sophistication of these precious animals has caught the public‟s imagination. We acquired the Falabella Collection the “Lord and Lady Fisher‟s Heritage “. The horses arrived in The Netherlands at Christmas 1991. They included in Lord and Lady Fisher‟s words “Pegasus of Kilverstone, the best Appaloosa Falabella Stallion we have ever seen “. We are most grateful to Lord and Lady Fisher for permitting us to continue their tradition and to quote parts of their letter and their fascinating memorandum of the 18th of December 1991. 2 Brochure G R E E N W O O D S / I N ‘T G R O E N E H O U T – L a u c r a t B.V. Oostdorperweg 203a 2241 BG Wassenaar – Postal Address: PO Box 2066 2240 CB Wassenaar Nederland T + 31 (0) 70/5176586 e-mail:[email protected] Chamber of Commerce Amsterdam. Laucrat B.V. No.27137453 Stud in France: „La Lauve‟ Quartier de La Lauve Saint Pierre par 06260 Puget Théniers (70 km from Nice) France Introduction In 1991, after some fifteen years, Lord and Lady Fisher of Kilverstone in Norfolk, England decided to close down their highly acclaimed wild life park, the main attraction of which was their extraordinary herd of Falabella Miniature Horses. These unique horses come originally from South America but their origins are obscure. Some say that a herd of horses had been trapped by a landslide in a canyon where the only food available was the local cacti and after many generations the genetic mutation occurred and others speak of the Cayak indians possessing the secret……… The extraordinary and unique mystery is that each generation produces a smaller horse. They are not ponies but perfectly proportioned miniature horses. Further, when a Falabella stallion is crossed with a mare of a larger breed, the offspring are mainly tinier versions of the mare. The elegance and sophistication of these precious animals has caught the public‟s imagination. We acquired the Falabella Collection the “Lord and Lady Fisher‟s Heritage “. The horses arrived in The Netherlands at Christmas 1991. They included in Lord and Lady Fisher‟s words “Pegasus of Kilverstone, the best Appaloosa Falabella Stallion we have ever seen “. We are most grateful to Lord and Lady Fisher for permitting us to continue their tradition and to quote parts of their letter and their fascinating memorandum of the 18th of December 1991. Stoeterij In ‘t Groene Hout/GreenWoods Stud 3 4 Kilverstone, December 1991 Memorandum GreenWoods Falabellas, Lord and Lady Fisher’s Heritage Since you are continuing our breeding programme of the Falabellas we would like to leave you with some background information. It was February 1977 when we finally arrived at the ranch of Señor Falabella in Argentina and gazed for the first time on his legendary miniature horses. Shortly after we set up our Wildlifepark at Kilverstone I came across a reference to the Falabella miniature horses and my curiosity aroused I tried to find out more about them, but it was clear that very little was known. The Falabella breed originates only from Señor Falabella‟s ranch in Argentina. Unlike the Shetland breed which is a small pony, the Falabella is a true miniature horse, the result of selective breeding from the Falabella blood line. Personally, I think the most important aspect of the Falabellas is not so much that they are small but that they are perfectly proportioned little horses. It is like looking at a tho- roughbred-an Arab or a Hunter- through the wrong end of a telescope. They are a perfectly proportioned scaled down model. Falabella miniature horses should never be confused with Shetland ponies. Shetlands have normal heads and bodies deep in the girth with short legs and particularly short cannon bones in the legs. 5 For their size, the Shetlands are the strongest of all breeds. They have been known to carry a man and his wife 26 kilometers and to have carried a man of 76 kilo 64 kilometers in one day. Falabella has very fine bones in the legs in perfect proportion to their body, very small feet and cannot be ridden. They have many unusual features and I will say more about these later. Some tall stories about short horses I hoped to learn from Señor Falabella the true story of the origin of this breed for I had heard many different explanations of how these horses came to be so small. One story was that a herd of horses had been trapped by a land slip in a large deep canyon. The only food available was cactus plants and over several generations the horses became smaller and smaller. According to this story they were found by the Falabella family and winched from the canyon and taken to their ranch. This seemed possible for something similar had in fact happened to a herd of Hereford cattle cut off in a canyon in the Rocky Mountains, for when they were found some years later their offspring were small and stunted due to the lack of adequate food and the right minerals in the soil. This did not of course explain how the surviving horses continued to breed small once they were getting plentiful supplies of food. An Argentinian told me that the chief of the Cayak Indians had passed the secret of breeding these miniature horses to the Falabella family. Knowing the warlike nature of the Indians in the area and their need of war horses I rather doubted it. 6 Later I heard several other versions of the isolation story. One claimed that the horses had been found in a hidden valley in the Andes – a sort of Shangri-la – where everything including the plants were small and different! Another claimed that the grandfather of the present Señor Falabella had sent some thoroughbred horses to a very barren and windswept part of Patagonia and then forgotten about them. Some years later so the story went, the grandchildren remembered the story of the horses and went to look for them. It is said that they found only tiny horses, apparently only the smallest had survived and found shelter and grazing on the low growing scrub. Unlikely perhaps but was it just possible? The most improbable came to me from an Australian who wrote to say that he had heard that at one time the Falabella family employed a lot of Japanese on the ranch and it was they that had somehow managed to reduce the size of the horses. Knowing that the Japanese produced the miniature trees by growing them in small pots and pruning the roots I had visions of them rushing round clipping the horses feet‟ and pushing them into tiny shoes! I do not know how all these stories originated because the true story of their origin as told me by Señor Julio Cesar Faballa, the grandson of the breed‟s founder, is even more fascinating. History of the breed as told to us by Señor Falabella Last century there were in parts of Chile and Argentina a number of tribes of nomadic Indians that even the Spaniards had failed to subdue. They hated the white man and waged almost constant war on the settlers. Periodically they would descend on the ranches burning, looting and killing, taking prisoners and driving off the cattle which they would later sell. Their captives were hideously treated and few, if any, survived a raid. One of these early settlers was Señor Falabella‟s maternal grandfather, an Irishman called Newton, who had a deep knowledge and understanding of horses. On the river which ran through his land Señor Newton had built a water mill. Every night stones were placed inside the mill wheel and the rumbling noise could be heard for miles. The Indians who were steeped in superstition thought he must be some kind of magician and kept well clear of his ranch. There was a ford below the house and as this was the only water for some distance horses and other animals often came there to drink. Sometimes they still had their saddles on or were still harnessed to a car or wagon whose blood stained seats told of attack and murder by the Indians. That is why Newton always carefully watched wildlife around the ford. One day there appeared at the river a small horse that was quite different to anything that Señor Newton had ever seen. This tiny horse appeared to have what translates from the Spanish as “the dwarf sickness” but this is really misleading. This was no dwarf but a perfectly proportioned horse in miniature. Señor Newton was fascinated by the little stallion and he decided to keep it and breed miniature horses for his daughter, Señor Falabella‟s mother.

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