What comes to your mind when you hear the word Einstein? Definitely, the first thing to pop up in your mind is one of the most genius scientists this world has ever seen. But this isn’t related to the horse in question in any way.
Although the Einstein horse isn’t alive anymore, it has been quite a famous horse for its unusual size as well as its many racing titles in the world.
Some may consider the Einstein horse an ideal companion not only because of its miniature size but also because of its calm personality.
In this article, we will talk about the history of the Einstein horse, its features and more.
History of Einstein Horse
The Einstein horse was born and bred in Brazil by Fazenda Mondesir. It was a brown or dark bay in color.
This male horse was bred by using a 32 inches tall father, who won American Horse of the year in 1985. Whereas the mother was 30 inches tall who had won Brazil filly of the year in 1988. Given the beautiful features of these two horses, it wasn’t a surprise that Einstein too had beautiful features.
At birth, Einstein was tiny but it wasn’t a matter of concern as it faced no health problems.
Einstein was taken by Fazenda to his new trainer, Helen Pitts in the United States. She was to take care of the horse and make it suitable for training.
The Einstein horse’s last owner was Frank Stronach, who bought him from the Midnight Cry Stables in 2009. The miniature horse was under Frank’s care until he died on 28th October 2020.
Surgery of Einstein Horse
Another record broken by the Einstein horse was that it was not only the first but also the only horse to undergo surgery by a canine specialist neurosurgeon when it was only two months old
The spinal cord injury led to an eight hour long surgery that took place at Cornell University. This operation ended up saving its life!
Fun fact: The Einstein horse appeared at the Oprah Winfrey Show only eight weeks after his surgery!
Weight And Height
The Einstein horse weighed 6 pounds at birth, which shows that he was born a mini horse. Whilst other horses typically weigh around 21 to 22 pounds at birth.
At the age of 10, Einstein had fully grown and stood 2 feet tall and weighed around 80 pounds. Its body size was similar to foals, But despite it being tiny in size it was fit for racing.
The Einstein horse was well-proportioned and exquisite in its features. It didn’t have any dysmorphic features which are why he did not face any health issues.
Einsteins Racing Career
As Einstein was trained to be a racing horse with the help of Helen Pitts, he did take part in many races. Not only did he take part in races, but he also emerged victorious in quite a number of them. His racing career consisted of his participation in:
- February 25th 2005 – He debuted in America at Gulfstream Park in Florida and won.
- Churchill Downs 2008 – Took part in Turf Classics Stakes and won.
- Churchill Downs 2008 – Took part in Clark handicap on dirt and won.
- 2008 – He took part in the Arlington Million and finished sixth against the best Turf horses in the world.
- California 2009 – Won one of California’s richest races on Santa Anita Handicap.
- May 2nd 2009 – Defended his championship in the Turf Classic Stakes
- California 2009 – Einstein participated in the Pacific Classic Stakes at Del Mar Racetrack under Frank’s ownership.
- November 7th 2009 – He ran in the Breeders Cup Classic, but had a disappointing event as he finished 11th out of 12 competitors.
- Churchill Downs, November 27th – He participated in Grade 2 Clark Handicap and finished at third position.
Einstein’s racing career took off as a success after his first participation from 25th February 2006, but ever since his ownership changed he achieved lesser titles in the competitions.
The Famous Einstein Horse eventually retired from racing by Adena Springs in 2019.
Why was Einstein Popular Amongst People?
It’s pretty simple that people are often attracted to things and animals that are unique and stand out in their own way. Such was the case with Einstein, he may not have had a strong IQ level but he was surely a unique horse. Or a mini horse as it can be said.
Unlike other horses such as Thumbelina who held the title for being the smallest horse, he did not suffer from dwarfism. Einstein’s body was well proportioned and he was picture perfect whereas Thumbelina had small legs, a large torso, and her head was bigger than her body.
Not only that, Einstein also has a book to his name written by Dr. Rachel Wagner and Charlie Cantrell with the assistance of his owners called “A Friend for Einstein: The Smallest Stallion,” which was a New York Times Bestseller. Check out his book here!
He also has a Facebook page as well as a Youtube Channel dedicated to him.
Apart from this he also has an Instagram ID to keep his followers updated on his daily activities making him quite a star on social media.
Einstein also had many people visit him at the farm in New Hampshire so that they could see the mini horse in person, and enjoy spending some time with him.
Conclusion
Einstein had his fair share of beautiful moments in life before he died. His best company were human beings because due to his miniature size he couldn’t exactly fit in or hang out with other horses. He was also calm and easy to train and handle which made him quite an easy company for human beings too.
Einstein’s short height in comparison to other miniature horses was his key to success in training for races. His beautiful features also served in his favor as they helped in making quite popular social media.
His achievements in his racing career were ensured by his owners such as Helen and Frank. Helen trained him well to win many titles, whereas Frank did his best to maintain the successful run of his racing career. But even though he had his fair share of downs in the latter years, Frank Stonach ensured that he had an honorable retirement from his racing career.
Quite an interesting life journey for a horse isn’t it? We hope you enjoyed reading this article about the Einstein horse and will share his story with your friends!
If you want to read more about horses don’t forget to check our article on Shire horses!