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•Horses Painting!

Q. Where and when was the first pure-bred Arabian foaled in the US born?
A. last week's answer


photo: Matt Kawiak

Only those who risk going too far can possibly
find out how far they can go.”
~T.S. Eliot

Last updated
Fri 15 Aug 2008
©2008 wnyHorse

   Equine Knowledge

What is the racing term when there is a tie for first, second and third place?

A dead heat

From where does the term ‘horsepower’ originate?

In the 19^th century, horses provided the motive power for portable farm and logging equipment. These setups were known as ‘horsepowers.’

When did the practice of mounting on the left, as opposed to the right, originate and why?

Greek military expert Xenophon describes it in 350BC, most likely necessary to keep the horseman’s sword (worn on the left side) from interfering when mounting.

Plain Brown Pony was very interested in your question of the week.  He gets a little disconcerted when he gets an answer wrong.  But he refuses to give up grazing time to go look it up in a book!!!  He says this ...
"We horses liked it much better when people worked around us on both sides equally.  It kept us healthier both mentally and physically!  (It was probably better for the people too!)  Becomming 'left sided' has led to all sorts of problems for us.  But when did it start?  I would guess (knowing the human proclivity for domination, war and violence ...) it was when people started wearing those darned swords.  Most people, being right handed, would wear their sword hanging off the left side of their body, making it easy to reach across with the right hand to pull it out.  Well, try to mount a horse comfortably from the right side with that huge ugly sword hanging down and in the way. Not good.  So most people started mounting from the left all the time.  They trained it into their young, and voila! you have 'mount and handle your horse only from the left'.  Today, this is one of the first things taught to young riders.  And the only reason this might be remotely valid or functional is that the horses these young people are learning on are mostly familiar with being handled & mounted on the left, because thats the way they've always been handled.  So it becomes a self reinforcing (though ultimately meaningless) habit.  People are so silly ....  Now, if horses ruled the world things would be different!  For one thing, no revolving doors .......
With that, Plain Brown Pony wandered off to eat grass and lost interest in ruling the world.

According to archaeological evidence dating back 6,000 years, were horse ridden or driven first?

Ridden. A site in Ukraine produced a stallion with wear marks on it’s teeth, almost certainly caused by wearing a bit, 500 years before the earliest wheel made it’s appearance

What is considered Ireland’s only native breed with origins that stretch back an incredible 2,500 years, and where can you see the biggest collection of this sturdy breed?

The Connemara Pony, at the annual Connemara Pony Show in Clifden, Ireland in August.

In 1827 the Thoroughbred gene pool was severely limited when the British Stud Book was officially closed to all but the descendants 3 foundation sires. Who were they?

Herod, Matchem and Eclipse

What is a ‘prophet’s thumbprint’?

A birthmark in the form of an indentation, usually found on the side of a horse’s neck. It’s believed that a horse with such a mark will be outstanding, as it is allegedly a descendant of one of the five brood mares that the Prophet Mohammed particularly treasured and marked with his own thumbprint

Humans have 206 bones in their skeleton. How many do most horses have?

Most horses have 205 bones in their skeleton

"Plain Brown Pony" says: Horses have altogether too many bones.  Especially all those little ones in their feet with the goofy names, like navicular and coffin.  Those are pretty good allusions to all the trouble they can cause.  Perhaps if we could breed some horses without those bones we'd avoid a whole lot of heart ache. 
And all those bones in their backs!!  We're lucky the chiropractor doesn't charge by the bone!  We'd be broke.  Then there is that most troublesome of all ... the bone my horse picks with me when I want to ride before he has finished his evening hay (which takes him 'till about midnight).
So, however many it is .... its too many!

Does a horse drink more in temperate or extremely cold weather?  Why?

He drinks more in extremely cold weather because of increased metabolic demands.

"Plain Brown Pony" says: Everyone knows horses drink much more in the cold weather 'cause its harder to get them out of the bars. Its warmer in there than outside or in the riding arena. If its really cold, their bar tabs get really high!! Seriously, they really do drink more in cold weather - 2 reasons. They may eat more hay, the digestion of which helps to create their internal heat, but also requires considerable water. Also, same as for us, the air is drier in cold weather, drying out our lungs, eyes, etc,, etc., etc. More water is needed just to replace that lost to evaporation to the very dry air (even when not sweating).

The U.S. Marine Corps uses only what color & breed horse in their six-horse Mounted Color Guard?

The palomino mustang

During which seasons do most colic episodes occur?

.

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