My littlest pony

Meet Thumbelina. At a mere 17" in height and 60 pounds in weight, she's not just a miniature horse -- she's a miniature miniature horse. When her owners, mini horse breeders Kay and Paul Goessling, realized somewhere around her fifth birthday that she would never approach the comparatively-towering 34 inches of their other horses, they did what any concerned parents would do: they called the Guiness Book. The Irish brewers-cum-record-keepers confirmed that Thumbelina is indeed the world's smallest horse.

So what do with her now? Despite offers, the Groesslings refuse to sell the horse -- "I think my parents would sell me before they parted with Thumbelina," said the breeders' son Michael -- and neither will they breed her. What's more, he says, though she's technically able to have foals, "we do not think it is right that the gene which creates dwarfism in horses is carried on through future generations." Tell that to the little people, Michael, and you're apt to have a super-sized fight on your hands.