One of the Ethiopian horse breeds, the Abyssinian is and has been bred for strength since it origin. The idea was for the horse to be small and able to travel many of the great mountainous areas around Ethiopia. Because of this the Abyssinian is loved for its smaller stature but strength capabilities. Often it is called a light pony type horse, and is favored among those who prefer a horse that is moderately short in stature. The Abyssinian is also sometimes called the Gala horse, as the stature is often averaged around 13 hands high. Many historians attribute this breed to one of the oldest found horse breeds in history with documented information available in many historical books found in some of the older libraries of England. Even with the stature of the average sized pony the Abyssinian is considered a horse and a much welled loved horse breed. Individuals have tried for years to perfect the horse breed in several ways including the simplest of ideas like making the rosettes in the coat of the horse more dominant. Either way you want to view the Abyssinian it is a great horse breed and fond to many across several if not all continents.