25 Fun Facts About Horse Trivia

A horse's height is given in hands. How long is one hand?

The hand is standardised at four inches (101.6 mm) and is still the working unit for horse height across the English-speaking world.

Under most competition rules, what is an equine measuring no more than 14.2 hands at the withers called?

14.2 hands — 58 inches — is the usual dividing line. Above it you have a horse; at or below it, a pony.

Roughly how long does a mare carry a foal before giving birth?

Gestation averages about 340 days, so a little over eleven months, with a normal range of 320 to 370 days.

What is the term for a young female horse, normally one under four years of age?

A filly is a young female; the male equivalent is a colt. A mare is an adult female and a gelding is a castrated male.

Which of a horse's four natural gaits is a three-beat gait?

The walk has four beats, the trot two and the gallop four. The canter, also called the lope, is the three-beat gait at roughly 19–24 km/h.

How many incisors does an adult horse have at the front of its mouth?

Twelve incisors do the biting off of grass, while 24 premolars and molars at the back do the grinding.

Przewalski's horse differs from the domestic horse, which has 64 chromosomes, by carrying how many?

Przewalski's horse has 66 chromosomes to the domestic horse's 64, yet the two can still interbreed and produce fertile foals.

One traditional job of the Shire horse was pulling brewers' vehicles of which kind?

A dray is a heavy flat cart, and Shires hauled them full of beer barrels. The breed also towed canal barges before the railways.

The Lipizzan is the breed most closely associated with which institution?

Vienna's Spanish Riding School has trained Lipizzans in classical dressage for centuries. Most turn white as adults despite being born dark.

Eventing puts one horse and rider through dressage, show jumping and which third phase?

Cross-country is the endurance test over fixed obstacles. Run over three or four days, the format is why it is still called three-day eventing.

Bucephalus was the celebrated warhorse of which commander?

Alexander rode him from Macedonia to the Punjab. Bucephalus is probably the most famous horse of classical antiquity.

What does the name Bucephalus literally mean?

It combines the Greek boûs, 'ox', with kephalē, 'head' — probably a nod to the horse's broad head or a brand mark on his flank.

Alexander founded the city of Bucephala in his horse's honour, on the bank of which river?

The Hydaspes is today's Jhelum, in Pakistan. The city was founded after the battle fought there in 326 BC.

Every modern Thoroughbred descends from three imported stallions: the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian and which other?

The Byerley Turk arrived in the 1680s, the earliest of the three foundation sires brought to England from the Middle East.

Some Arabian horses carry 17 pairs of ribs rather than the number usual in horses. What is that usual number?

The usual count is 18 pairs. Some Arabians also have five lumbar vertebrae instead of six, which shortens the back.

How many mounted players make up each team in outdoor polo?

Outdoor polo is four a side. Riders swap mounts between periods because one horse cannot last a whole match.

What is a seven-minute period of play in polo called?

A match runs four to eight chukkas, also spelled chukkers, of seven minutes each.

At which racetrack is the Kentucky Derby run?

Churchill Downs in Louisville has hosted the Derby on the first Saturday in May since 1875.

The Kentucky Derby winner is draped in a blanket of which flower?

The garland is hand-sewn from hundreds of red roses onto green satin, and it is where the nickname 'The Run for the Roses' comes from.

In which year did Secretariat take the American Triple Crown?

Secretariat ended a 25-year gap without a Triple Crown winner, setting records in the Derby and the Belmont along the way.

By how many lengths did Secretariat win the Belmont Stakes that completed his Triple Crown?

He broke Count Fleet's 25-length record and ran the mile and a half in 2:24, still the American record on dirt.

Which English racecourse stages the Grand National?

Aintree in Merseyside, near Liverpool, has staged the National since the 19th century over the longest jumps course in Britain.

Which horse is the only three-time winner of the Grand National?

Red Rum won the National three times in the 1970s and finished second in the two intervening years.

Runners in the Grand National take 30 jumps over two laps. How many separate fences does the course contain?

There are 16 fences, 14 of them jumped twice, which makes 30 jumps in all over four and a quarter miles.

Which Grand National fence takes its name from a captain who was unseated into the ditch beside it in 1839?

Captain Martin Becher fell there in the first official Grand National of 1839, and the fence has carried his name ever since.