Does This Photo Show the Biggest Horse in History?

In April 2023, a viral photo showed the biggest horse in history. The first post we found on social media platforms sharing the photo of the gigantic horse was a TikTok video posted on April 18, 2023. Originally in German, the video’s caption stated, “#biggest #horse #in the world #The biggest horse in the world was the Shire Horse gelding “Sampson”, who had a height of 2.19 cm and weighed 1524 kg.”

We also found claims about the picture on platforms like Twitter and Facebook. On Twitter, fact-checker Hoaxeye called it “the biggest fake I’ve seen today.”

There is no evidence that the horse in the picture was the biggest horse in the world, or that the biggest horse was ever photographed at all. The photo had clear signs of being fake. For example, AI technology often can’t handle creating hands. When we zoomed in on the photo, the hands in the photograph appeared to be blobs. In particular, the hands on the left side of the photo appeared to be merged together.

According to Guinness World Records, the tallest documented horse in the world was indeed named Sampson (later renamed Mammoth). The shire gelding was foaled in 1946 and bred by Thomas Cleaver of Bedfordshire, a county located in the U.K.

Some facts about the horse that were also listed on the website didn’t match the TikTok caption. While Sampson was indeed 1,524 kg (3,359 lb), he was 2.19 meters tall, not centimeters like the caption stated. (In feet, that is 7-feet-2.5 inches.) The webpage did not include a picture of what Sampson looked like.

Although there have been other large horses that have come close, Sampson still holds the record for being the tallest horse. Garden & Gun Magazine wrote in January 2022 that a horse named Big John that lived in Virginia had become the unofficial “King of Horsetok” as the largest living horse in the world, with the horse being 6-feet-8 inches.

Claim- In April 2023, a viral photo showed the biggest horse in history.

Are claims about the “biggest horse in the world” that spread across social media platforms in April 2023 true? The answer appears to be neigh.

While a photo has previously spread online of a white horse that supposedly shows Sampson, it was miscaptioned. The photo actually showed another horse, Brooklyn Supreme. We found the photo in Grinnell College’s archives, which said the horse was owned by C.G. Good & Son. from Ogden, Iowa. The photo was dated 1950 in the college’s archives. The caption stated Brooklyn Supreme weighed 3,200 pounds in 1950, and that it took 30 inches of iron to make one of his shoes.

In conclusion, because the image had clear signs of being fake, and because there is no evidence that any photo was ever taken of Sampson, the actual biggest known horse in history, we rate this claim “False.”

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An April 14, 2023, a tweet with a video of a dolphin transporting a small dog to a sailboat, described as “dolphin saves a dog that fell into the sea from the boat,” received nearly 800,000 views at the time of this reporting:

If the soundtrack and camerawork did not make it obvious, this is a scene from a movie “Zeus and Roxanne” — the 1997 film

“Zeus is a rowdy little ruffhouse of a dog, Roxanne, a delightful dolphin,” a description of the movie on Amazon reads. “What happens when the two come together, and the effect they have on the people who love them, is an exciting and unexpected tale of freedom, friendship, and love.”

Does this video show a dog being rescued by a dolphin?

Apparently, the viral Tweet scene is shown, in part, in a trailer for the movie:

The dog in the tweet was never in actual need of rescue, except, perhaps, from film critics. In a scathing 1997 review by New York Times critic Lawrence Van Gelder, the trio of dogs playing Zeus were called out for their overacting:

From the moment Zeus, actually played by three Portuguese Podengos, appears on screen, coyly cocking his head, raising his paws, sticking out his tongue and emitting pitiable whines, the interspecies signal of this film is that it is to be badly overacted.

Claim – A video authentically shows a dog being rescued by a dolphin.

Although eviscerated for overacting by a New York Times film critic, the dog in a viral tweet was never in any physical danger.

We rate the clip as “Miscaptioned”, because both Zeus and Roxanne are fictional characters from a poorly reviewed 1997 family film.

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For some years, a “vintage ad” has circulated online that recommends mixing the soft drink 7-Up with milk to make “a delicious food drink” that supposedly pleases children and adults equally:

Go on have you ever tried 7up and milk? No? You don’t know what you’re missing ???? pic.twitter.com/KRwPEsKpmf

— Museum Facts (@museumfacts) September 16, 2020

Is This Vintage ‘7-Up and Milk’ Promotion Real? Given that it can be difficult to tell the difference between real vintage ads and the many parodies of such ads that also make the social media rounds, some people have questioned whether the above example is authentic. Yes, it is.

Though the example above wasn’t an advertisement, strictly speaking, it is a real page from a real promotional pamphlet published by the Seven-Up Company in 1948 entitled “9 Ways To Spark Family Favorites.” The pamphlet also recommended basting ham with 7-Up, making fruit sherbet with 7-Up, and mixing 7-Up into gelatin desserts for an “unusual sparkle.”

When we searched newspaper archives for mentions of this odd 7-Up concoction, the earliest we came across was a short filler piece in the Oct. 4, 1945, edition of the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Evening News. The piece, basically a promo for a local soft drink bottler, the Stoner Beverage Company, used language similar to that found in the pamphlet to recommend what it called a “Seven-Up milk cocktail“:

“For children who won’t drink milk and adults who want the nourishment of milk with a decided flavor appeal, try a Seven-Up milk cocktail. Mix chilled Seven-Up and cold milk in equal parts, by pouring the Seven-Up gently into the milk. Do not stir. The Seven-Up adds a light and delicate flavor making a delicious blended food drink.”

In 1948, the same year “9 Ways To Spark Family Favorites” was published, copy quoted directly from the pamphlet began appearing in ads for 7-Up bottling companies in various parts of the U.S. This ad appeared in The Daily Times of Salisbury, Maryland, on July 15, 1948:

1948 ad for 7-Up Bottling Company of Salisbury

Despite the advertising, the mixture doesn’t appear to have caught on, at least not in a lasting way. We found scattered, rare instances of similar ads appearing through the 1950s, but almost none in the decades since.

That said, you can’t keep a weird idea down. Check out this CNN story about PepsiCo’s December 2022 effort to promote a beverage made with Pepsi and milk — “pilk” — for the winter holidays:

Pepsi has launched a campaign encouraging customers to mix milk into their soda — and it’s backed by Lindsay Lohan. https://t.co/LCfH9cg5hB

— CNN (@CNN) December 2, 2022

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