14 DAY TRIAL // Most horses are majestic creatures that pretty much tower over us. But not Acer. This fellow stands just 22 inches (56 centimeters) tall, which means that it's smaller than your average dog.
Check out the photo next to this article and the one below to get a better idea of just how small this horse is. Fair warning: you might think that your eyes are playing tricks on you and that you're actually looking at a cat wearing a horse costume.
According to Mirror, the horse currently lives with its owner, a woman named Maureen O'Sullivan, at a farm in the town of Corringham in Essex, UK. Because it is so small, Acer is even allowed to visit the family home every once in a while.
Mind you, Acer didn't end up being this small because, as a foal, it could not be persuaded to eat its fruits and veggies. On the contrary, the horse is suffering with a rare genetic condition that it inherited from both its parents.
This condition is known as dwarfism, and most of the horses that have it are put to sleep shortly after birth. However, Maureen refused to part with Acer after learning about this diagnosis, and instead decided to keep it.
“Due to dwarves having various health issues most breeders would have put him down, but little Acer was so full of life and otherwise healthy, it was never an option,” the woman told the press in an interview.
When it's not busy exploring the farm with Maureen, Acer likes to relax and play with the family dog, a labrador named Demon. The two are about the same size, and Maureen is quite convinced that, since it spends most of its time with Demon, Acer thinks that it too is a dog.
