Cornelia Steinbrecher with Great Dane Nala and 2008 filly Black Beauty. Photo by Bastian Fischer

It must sound amazing, but until the year 2002, the breed called American Miniature Horse was totally unheard of in Germany. I found out about that breed only through a thorough internet research. What I was looking for then, was a horse for my daughter to love and spoil and a companion for her Shetland Pony Mogli. Nowadays, I own CS Royal Miniature Horse Farm, a selective small stud with a herd of about 25 Miniature Horses. I have even been able to convince the Bavarian Breeders’ Association to start a studbook for that breed in Germany.

But let’s hear the story from the beginning:

I have been a horse person all my life – just like my husband. When I first sat on the back of a pony at the age of six years, I knew that horses would always be the center of my life. As a child and teenager I spent every spare minute around horses and learned how to care for them, ride them and simply adore these wonderful creatures.

Later on, I also started to ride competitions – first in jumping and later in dressage – and am thankful to my great mares that have brought me to the winners’ circle more than once.

My husband and me being such horse lovers, it is certainly no wonder that also my daughter enjoyed horses from early on. When she was three years old, she got her first very own horse: A Shetland Pony called Mogli. Mogli was the perfect pony to make her win leading rein classes, but as a mother it has always bothered me a little, that he was – compared to my daughter – pretty tall and very heavy. Even when she was a little older, she still had problems to handle him, because he was so much stronger and – let’s face it – as most ponies are, he was a little stubborn.

So, I went looking for a small pony for my daughter to love and care for. I wanted something a little smaller than Mogli and something that would be easier to handle for a small child. I started looking all over Germany and Europe to see if I could find what I had in mind, but with no luck. It was not so much the problem, that I wouldn’t find something small – there were plenty of small Shetlands or Falabellas offered for sale. The problem was still, that those had the stubborn pony character that I didn’t want. Plus, I must admit that coming from big horses, I imagined that there also should be more beauty to such a small pony.

My dream was to find a small pony with a big horse character AND big horse looks, i.e. a balanced and proportionate body, trim barrel, a small head with a large eye, a long thin and arched neck, long legs, short back etc. That was when the internet research came in and there was only one result for a big horse in miniature: The American Miniature Horse!

I got in contact with some breeders and finally, in 2002, I faced the rare opportunity to purchase a top quality small herd from a dispersing breeder in Pennsylvania. Those little ones – one stallion, three mares and one filly – were the first ones I imported, but not the last. Among miniature horse breeders and owners, you can often hear this phrase: “They’re like potatoe chips – you can’t just have one of them!” And looking into my barn now, I’ll have to say that this is absolutely true.

I had decided soon after the first horses had arrived that it was just too bad that these horses were unknown in Germany and I made it my task to promote the breed all over Germany and Europe by breeding very selectively and only the cream of the crop of what I could find. At CS Royal, we have horses out of legendary bloodlines, such as Gold Melody Boy, Boones Little Buckeroo, Hemlock Brooks Egyptian King, Flying W Farms Little Blue Boy, Boones Little Apache and Rowdy - to name just a few. We have sons and daughters of as famous sires as Sids Rebel, Sierra Dawn Unos Monarch, Champion Farms Nighthawk, Flying W Farms Blue Boys Magic Man, and many more.

All of our horses are AMHA registered, a few are double registered AMHA/AMHR. Our horses are also the foundation horses of the German studbook for American Miniature Horses that was started in 2003. We’re especially proud to say that our senior herdsire A F Ivy Toro was the very first American Miniature Horse stallion to be approved as breeding stallion in Germany ever.

Even though we've had only few foal crops so far, Miniature Horses from our CS Royal breeding program can be found today not only in Germany, but also in Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Russia, Sweden and the Netherlands.

I’m proud of my little horses and what we have achieved so far, but still the story is only beginning and we have an exciting future ahead of us.

__________Cornelia Steinbrecher

__Member of AMHA, AMHR, EMHA, ICAMH, MHCE and Bav. Breeders Association
__AMHA carded international judge
__International AMHA director for Germany
__EMHA Vice - President
__Delegate for Bavarian Breeders Association

Below you can take a look at the pets and other animals that are - apart from our miniature horses - members of the Steinbrecher family. Click on the respective picture to learn more about each of them: