Standing just 17 inches tall, she is never going to be a champion show-jumper.

In fact, the tiny mare is so small she would struggle to leap over a bucket.

But such things are of little concern for feisty Thumbelina who has just been officially recognised as the world’s smallest horse.

The five-year-old received the title from the Guinness Book of Records after her astonished owners realised she was never going to grow any bigger.

She was born on a farm in America to a couple who specialise in breeding miniature horses.

These popular show horses usually weigh about 250lb and reach a height of 34 inches when they are fully grown.

But when Thumbelina was born, it was immediately clear she would never grow to this size.

At birth she weighed 8lb – the weight of many new-born babies – and eventually she grew to a mere 60lb.

Thumbelina’s extraordinary size has been put down to dwarfism, which makes her a miniature of a miniature.

But despite this massive difference in size, it is feisty Thumbelina who rules the roost over the stallions and racehorses on her 150-acre farm.

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