- Noma - |
|||
 The Noma is the smallest of all the Japanese horse breeds. It is a local horse, native to the Noma region of Imabari in the Ehime Prefecture. It stands only 10.3 hands high. Popular belief holds that in the 17th century, the Lord Hisamatsu of Matsuyama Han charged local farmers with the breeding of horses. The smallest of these, the ancestors of the present breed, were particularly useful as pack horses on steep mountainsides and on remote islands. There are fewer than 50 Noma horses today being kept by several stud farms, in an attempt to preserve the breed. They are used as riding horses by children and as subjects of study in the local schools.
|
|||
|