I’m not a horse person, to be perfectly honest with you.

But when I look at the above image, it makes my frosty, dog-loving heart melt.

This swell pic of Radar – the 2006 to 2009 holder for world’s tallest horse [left] – and little Thumbelina, the world’s smallest horse [right], was taken when the Guinness World Records team came out to do a photoshoot back in 2007.

Paul Goessling, Thumbelina’s handler, told CNN how it went:

We brought Thumbelina out on a lead and they had Radar there, and Thumbelina all of a sudden reared up, bit him right on the nose and Radar started running away.

Oops. Horse-play gone wrong, maybe?

Born in 1998 in Mount Pleasant, Texas, Radar was a Belgian draft horse gelding who stood at a staggering 1,8 metres and weighed over 1 000 kilos, reports KLTV.

He held the record of world’s tallest horse from 2006 until 2009, and he travelled the country and made appearances on the Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Extreme Makeover.

That’s until this fella by the name of Big Jake dethroned him:

Big Jake became famous in 2012 after he was crowned the tallest in the world by the Guinness World Records. While he’s not a Shire, he comes from a breed that’s admired as one of the strongest and heaviest among draft horses: the Belgian.

Due to his sheer size, Big Jake’s handlers had the Guinness World Records team come over to Wisconsin to measure him, and his 2,1-metre height clinched him the title of the tallest living horse.

As for Radar, he died in 2016 at the age of 18. He’s interred at his handlers’ ranch, and a special monument has been put up in his name.

Poor thing, but his little buddy still lives on.

Compared to Big Jake, Thumbelina’s barely the size of a wee acoustic guitar:

He could literally smoosh her flat if he isn’t careful.

The possum-like pony’s health worried everyone, but she proved to be fearless (remember how she bit Radar, everyone?). She’s also great with kids:

Early on, the Goesslings decided to turn Thumbelina into a therapy animal.

“She visited cancer patients, burn patients, they were kids that were really struggling – sometimes emotionally – and they’d have that moment with Thumbelina. I had more parents come up to me with tears in their eyes saying it was literally the happiest moment of their child’s life.”

Now the little old lady has retired at the age of 17. She “now lives a quiet life on the farm, sleeping in the dog house, using a set of doggy doors to get in and out of the barn”.

Bless her cute, adorable self.

[source:cnn&kltv]