This is most certainly a premiere: the first horse that we could be wrapped up and give as a gift for Christmas! It is probably a new record: the smallest horse to be born at Riverdance Miniature Horses in Australia: the baby is only 15in (3.3 hands) high, a small dog size!

A man at the farm, Lee Scown, told the press: “They are usually 18-23in tall so this one is quite short. We were told the mare wasn’t due for another four weeks but on Sunday morning I walked outside and called her, and out ran the little foal behind her.”

The veterinarian examined the foal and gave it a clean bill of health.

Horses are measured in hands ( 4 inches), from the ground to the withers, or base of the neck, and this one is thought to never grow over 6 hands (or 24in) high.