Good things come in small packages. That’s what Paul and Kay Goessling of Ladue, Missouri believe. The Goesslings raise miniature horses on their Goose Creek Farm outside of St. Louis and own Thumbelina, the world’s smallest horse, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

The Goesslings weren’t after world records, when they bred Thumbelina. A mere eight pounds at birth, the diminutive mare carries a gene for dwarfism, which is undesirable in miniature breeding stock. And because her legs are proportionately small in comparison to her head and body, she has had to wear orthopedic braces for much of her life.

At five years of age, Thumbelina stands 17 1/2 inches at the withers and weighs 60 pounds. Her counterparts on the farm weigh around 250 pounds and stand at about 34 inches, but the tiny mare prefers the company of the Goesslings two spaniels to her own kind. She even beds down in a doghouse lined with shavings.

Thumbelina’s diet consists of a scant cup of grain twice a day and a few handfuls of hay.

Although Thumbelina has become somewhat of a celebrity since the announcement of her world record status, the Goesslings have no intention of ever selling her. “Thumbelina is very special,” Paul Goessling told the St. Louis Post Dispatch, as he held the tiny mare in his lap. “We just love her.”

The previous world record smallest horse was Black Beauty, bred and owned by Burleson Arabians, Kittrell, North Carolina, who at 10 years of age is 18 1/2 inches tall.