Saturday, 29 September 2012

General Horsey Knowledge Quiz 1

Hi! I'm Perfect Ponies and this is my blog!
This is my first General Horsey Knowledge Quiz! Good Luck!
 Don't cheat! Just because you want to have the right answer all the time doesn't mean you have to!
Be true - Don't cheat- and you'll be a super horsey star!


1. How many inches are in a hand?

a. 5 inches
b. 6 inches
c. 4 inches

2. What colour is fleabitten-grey?

a. Grey coat, grey mane and tail. Coat covered in dainty brown specks.
b. A Grey pony with flea bites all over
c. What?

3. There are three types of riding. Two main ones. Can you name all three?

a. Normal, Bumpy, Saddle-less
b. Walk, Trot, Canter, Gallop 
c English, Western, bareback

4. Can you identify this?

a. rearing
b. bucking
c. kicking

5. Identify these. Which is a bridle? 




a. the one on the top
b. the one on the bottom
c. it's neither. They are both types of martingales!


6. What is a bridle?

a. a bridle is a bride to be married cancelling the wedding!
b. a bridle is used to catch the horses in stalls, fields and pens
c. a bridle is used for riding

7. What do you use to pick out a pony's hooves?

  1. A hoof knife
  2. A tooth pick
  3. A hoof pick
  4. Nothing - why would you clean them out anyway?

 8. An eggbutt snaffle is a:

  1. Type of bit
  2. Horsey sweet treat
  3. Saddle

9. Horses and Ponies are measured from the:

a. the withers
b. the head
c. the back

10. An Anglo-Arab is:

a. a breed thats half Thoroughbred and half Arabian
b. Arabian horse wearing English tack
c. Breed: 1/2 Shire, 1/2 Arabian

11. To catch a horse you would use

  1. A halter and a carrot
  2. A bridle and a lollipop
  3. Your wits and a lassoo

12. What colour is  bay?

a. Glossy Golden coat, white-blonde mane and tail
b. Spotty
c. Reddish brown with a black mane and tail

13. A mare horse is:

a. boy/girl foal
b. a nightmare horse
c. girl horse

14. A piebald is:

a. a horse with black and white patches
b. a bald horse 
c. a horse who likes to eat pies

15. If you were preparing for a show-day, or gymkhana, you would:

  1. Plait the horse's tail
  2. Plait the horse's mane and tail
  3. Plait your own hair and leave your horse muddy


16. A numnah is:

a. saddle blanket/pad
b. a breed of a horse
c.a type of bit

17. When you groom a horse, what is the most vital thing to remember?

a. Groom them properly
b. give them something to eat while you groom them
c. Don't stand behind the horse

18. What is the difference between a dun and buckskin?

a. What are you talking about?
b. No difference
c. Dun has a dorsal stripe, buckskin doesn't. Plus buckskin is a more golden coat.

19. Do horses throw up?

a. Yeah, they aren't unnatural, are they?
b. They are animals, right? And animals throw up!
c. No, they can only colic

20. Schooling a pony means:

  1. Taking him to school with you
  2. Trying to teach him the times tables
  3. Training him to obey your commands when you’re in the saddle



Bonus Question: 

If a stallion is a male, what is a castrated male?

a. Hinny
b. Jennet
c. Caststall
d. Donkey
e. Mule
f. mare
g. filly
h. colt
i. gelding
                     Well done! You really tried hard! Here's the results:

                            1. C       2. A        3. C         4. A
                             5. A      6. C            7. C             8.A 
                              9. A          10. A           11. A          12. C
                             13. C         14. A        15. B           16. A
                              17. C         18. C           19. C           20. C
                                 BQ: Answer at bottom

1 - 5 right answers


Whoa! You need to horse smarten up! Keep reading those pony books, pony magazines and especially keep reading my blog! By next month, you'll be so pony smart! 

6 - 10 right answers


You're not exactly pony perfect, are you? But you know the basics, at least. You need to keep reading my blog if you want to know loads and loads more.

11 - 15 right answers


You've got loads of horse sense. You love ponies to pieces - and it shows! But when it comes to horses, no one can be a superb expert that knows all! Keep on reading!

16 - 20 right answers


You are a pony star! Do you have a horse or pony of your own? If so, they’re very lucky because you know so much about them! But remember, when it comes to horses we can always learn more! So keep reading!

 16- 20 + BQ

Amazing! Just amazing! Keep reading and soon you'll be shining like the stars!
Bonus Question: I

Monday, 24 September 2012

Learner's Special: Grooming

Hi! I'm Perfect Ponies and this is my blog!
This is my second issue on Learner's Specials and I'm excited 'coz this one's on standard grooming!
(Body Brush, Dandy brush, curry comb)

The Dandy Brush

The Dandy Brush: aka the hard brush. This along with the curry comb are what is going to get most of the mud off. Used in a short, flicking motion the direction of the coat.
Since this is the hard brush, you don't use in on the pony's face.

                                                  Sponges

Can be used under the tail, nostrils and hind legs


                                         Mane Comb

Really, I think it's self explanatory :)

                                             Curry Comb

Curry combs, before you think, are NOT made from curry!
Curry combs should be used first on your pony. They're used for getting mud off.
You can get metal, rubber and plastic curry combs. I Recommend the plastic ones. They are a lot better.
Rubber ones means more work and metal ones upset your horse. They're harder.

                                               Body Brush

                                       Body brush is A LOT softer than the dandy brush and able to be used on the face.

                                    Hoof Pick

Remember to pick away from you, avoiding the frog.

Sweat Scraper 

Used for getting wet mud, water and sweat off in the washing bay.

Hoof Oil

Make your pony's hooves shiny on show-day!


What did you learn about standard grooming?

Let's see with a 5-question quiz!

1. What is a curry comb?


a. It's a comb for your hair

b. It's curry with cream!

c.It's gets off mud


2. What's the difference between a dandy brush and a body brush?

a. Dandy brush is harder that the body brush


b. No difference at all


c. What are they??


3. What's the difference between plastic, rubber and metal curry combs?


a. No difference


b. Metal are harder, rubber means harder work, and plastic ones are just right!


c. Metal are hot curry, plastic is cold and rubber is mild curry.


4. What's hoof oil?

a. Makes your pony's hooves shiny!

b. What's hoof oil?

c. What's a hoof?


5. Why is grooming so important?

a. So we can check over our ponies to see if they have injuries



b. To make them look pretty



c. For the sake of doing it!


Results:

1. C
2. A
3. B
4. A
5. A

How'd you do?

Saturday, 15 September 2012

Learner's Special: Events and Classes

Hi! I'm Perfect Ponies and this is my blog!
This is my first learner's special. It's for beginners or advanced who just want to learn more!
This special is on Events and Classes.

                          Pony Club Dressage

(Written by Rhóna)
There will be a dressage judge either in their car, in the middle of the arena, or at the back or front in the arena. They will be judging your every movement - so don't get a hoof wrong!
There will be you caller. Your caller will call out to you what movement comes next. there will be numbers or letters on the ground. When you reach a certain letter, your caller could say "Transition to canter" and you kick your pony on to canter until the caller tells you to stop at a different letter.
                                                Example 
Proceed at A, trot down centre line. Halt and Salute at X then track right. Trot down the long side arena to K, then transition to canter!


Classical/Professional Dressage

(Written by Perfect Ponies)
Classical or Professional dressage, whatever way you want to put it, is a sort of dressage for Eventers. Carl Hester at Crofton Manor teaches the classical dressage. Many stud farms in Spain train their horses into the classical Haute Ecole dressage movements. Classical dressage is usually performed with music.
A Piaffe, in basic words, is trotting or walking on the spot. (Video of a demonstrated Piaffe above)

A Pirouette is when a horse is trotting and you make them whirl like a ballerina left and right. (Demonstration above) 

A Flying Change is having the horse change legs in mid-air. It looks a bit like the horse is skipping, doesn't it?

The courbette isn't usally performed in Eventing. Here it is form the Spanish Riding school in Vienna, Austria.

The half-pass is a lateral movement seen in dressage, in which the horse moves forward and sideways at the same time. It's often confused with the leg yield.
There's more to that dressage but I'm running out of space!

Showjumping

Showjumping is jumping fences (Not literal fences!) and it's so fun. A little hard to explain, so here's a vid!
Here's a little info form Wikipedia

Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrianevents that also includes dressageeventinghunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows are limited exclusively to jumpers, sometimes jumper classes are offered in conjunction with other English-style events, and sometimes show jumping is but one division of very large, all-breed competitions that include a very wide variety of disciplines. Jumping classes may be governed by various national horse show sanctioning organizations, such as the United States Equestrian Federation in the USA

Cross-Country 

Cross country is not jumping fences, but obstacles like wood cars or tractors, lightweight wooden houses (Really small, of course!)
Here's a vid to help you along with some info from Wikipedia.
Cross country equestrian jumping is an endurance test, and is one of the three phases of the sport of eventing; it may also be a competition in its own right, known as hunter trials or simply "cross-country" - these tend to be lower level, local competitions.
The object of the endurance test is to prove the speed, endurance and jumping ability of the true cross-country horse when he is well trained and brought to the peak of condition. At the same time, it demonstrates the rider's knowledge of pace and the use of this horse across country.

Here's another vid that looks as if you are riding the horse!



Novice Classes

Novice classes can be Show Hunter, showjumping, dressage, cross-country - anything! 
It's for total beginners or riders have never competed in Show Days before.

Show hunter classes

The show hunter is a type of show horse that is judged on its movement, manners, and way of going, particularly while jumping fences. The horses are shown in hunt seat style tack, and are often ofWarmblood or Thoroughbred type, though a hunter-style pony is also seen in youth classes. In theUnited States, show hunters are primarily exhibited over fences, with a few additional classes offered for horses shown in-hand or on the flat. In the United Kingdom, competition over fences is called "Working Hunter," and the term "Show Hunter" describes classes held on the flat.
Here's a vid of a children's hunter class



What have you learned?

We'll see with this quiz!
(BTW All Learner specials will have quizzes at the end)
Don't Cheat!

Q1. What is a Piaffe?

a. Walking/Trotting

b. Trotting on the spot

c. Duh, it's a horse eating Fruit Pie!

d. Duh, it's a horse making a Fruit Pie!


Q2. What are 'fences' in showjumping?

a. I thought fences were just fences...right?

b. Duh! They're gates!

c. Jumps

d. Your pony's striding

Q3. Where would you find a 'Wire-and-post' fencing?

a. Around a field

b. What is 'wire and post' fencing?

c. Wire-and-post is found in showjumping and cross country

d. Wire-and-post is a Show Hunter Class jump

Q4. What is a courbette?

a. A dressage movement

b. A movement were the horse is rearing and does a flying leap

c. Don't you mean crochet?

d. A movement where you stand on a mounting block, wait for your pony to gallop riderless to you, then jump from the mounting block and onto the pony's back

Q5 What's A 'Flying change'?

a. A dismount will your pony's still moving

b. Changing the leading canter leg in mid-air

c. Sorry, what?

d. Uhhhhh......


For my first issue, there will only be five questions.





Results:

1.B
2.C
3.D
4.B
5.B

What did you get?













Monday, 10 September 2012

You have to see this!

I'm Perfect ponies and this is my blog!

I just found an amazing video on Youtube.
One enterprising German teenager refused to give up her dream when her parents said she couldn't have a horse.

Regina Mayer, the 15-year-old bovine showjumper, grabbed the bull by the horns and spent two years training Luna, the family's cow, to clear fences.
You gotta see this !
Think this is amazing? I do too!