A 20hh Shire horse named Noddy from Pakenham, Australia has been hailed as the world’s biggest horse, the current holder of the Guinness World Record for the tallest horse in the world is a Shire called Tina who measured 20hh without shoes from Niota, Tennessee, however Tina died in April this year.
Standing just 4 hands tall (17 inches), Thumbelina, from New Jersey is the world’s smallest horse. Her extraordinary size has been put down to dwarfism, which makes her a miniature of a miniature! Being so small, Thumbelina survives on a cup of grain and handful of hay, served twice-a-day.
The oldest horse ever recorded was called Old Billy and lived for a whopping 62 years. Old Billy was born in 1760 and spent his life towing barges along canals in Lancashire. He died in 1822.
The fastest recorded horse was Grand National winner, Red Rum. He completed the 1973 Grand National course, a distance of 4.5 miles, in 9 minutes 1.9 seconds. This meant the punters’ favourite was averaging about 30 miles per hour!
95% of todays 500,000 racehorses descended from a single stallion – the Darley Arabian, born in 1700.