October

Hi Guys! This is Perfect Ponies and this is my blog!
It's October now! Excited? That means...
More Horsey-ness!
Have you heard? Perfect Ponies has got it's own website. inluvwithponies was taken, so enter this web address into the top bar: /site/inlovewithponies/ and press enter.
Pick a post. So far, there's two posts. So go, go, go!
I'm almost 1,000 readers! I need you to keep reading and tell you're friends. Get to a thousand readers and a special surprise!

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

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?

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 dressage, eventing, hunters, 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?

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!

Top 5 Professional Cross Country Tips and More!

Hi! I'm Perfect Ponies and this is my blog!
This is the Top 5 Cross Country Tips used by professional riders.

1. Walk the course at least once - but twice is ideal. Go around the first time with your instructor who can advise you on the best line to take. Then go around a second time and think about what approach will suit your horse best.

2. Don’t take the first fence for granted. Even if it is just an easy bunny hop. Sometimes riders are so distracted by starting that they forget to ride hard at the first fence and get a refusal and twenty faults as a result!

3. If your horse is galloping with a regular, steady stride between fences he will be able to conserve energy on the cross-counry. Don’t forget, you still have the showjumping phase to come!

4. If your horse seems spooked by a fence, don’t charge at it. You’ll just end up falling off when he suddenly stops! The best thing to do is slow down and give the horse a chance to look and gain confidence. You’ll be surprised at how easily your horse will pop over any obstacle at a steady, collected trot!

5. Remember to cool your horse down properly when you’ve finished the course. Put a warm workout rug on him and walk him around to cool him down.

Now you know the Top 5 professional cross Country tips! (Video above!) Found on Youtube. Copyright to owner! (Waterford Pony Club Cross Country Training 28.5.11 - Romeo)

I just want to talk about the three dun pony colours.

Dun ponies

Dun,  the most common type of dun, has a tan or gold body with black mane, tail and primitive markings. Genetically, the horse has an underlying bay coat color, acted upon by the dun gene.

Dun is a golden or tan colour coat with black mane, tail and markings. The dun pony has a dorsal stripe (stripe along back).

Dun has a lot of names for it. Not only is it called dun, but it's called Bay dun, classic dun and zebra dun.

The colours to mix to get dun is bay +dun.

Red Dun

Red dun, also called claybank or fox dun, horses do not have black points, as there is no black on the horse to be affected. Instead, the points and primitive markings are a darker shade of red than the coat. Genetically, the horse has an underlying chestnut coat color, acted upon by the dun gene.

I don't know a huge pile on the Red Dun Horse. I do know that you have to mix chestnut and dun to get the Red Dun colour.

Grullo/Grulla

 Grullo or grulla,is a smoky, bluish to mouse-brown color and can vary from light to dark. They consistently have black points and they often have a dark or black head, which is an identifying characteristic of this color. The primitive markings are usually all black. Genetically, the horse has an underlying blackcoat color, acted upon by the dun gene. Unlike a blue roan, there are no intermingled black and white hairs, and unlike a true gray, which also intermingles light and dark hairs, the color does not change to a lighter shade as the horse ages. With a dun, the hair color itself is one solid shade.

The Grullo/Grulla pony is also called Blue Dun and Mouse Dun.

Those are the dun pony colours! 

Next Post: Tomorrow

Pony Post

                                                    Hi! I'm Perfect Ponies and this is my blog!

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging as recent as I should. I've been very busy with my ponies, and I have to write a series on a deadline.
Not only that, but I have to deal with my ponies. My new skewbald mare Lily has adapted to jumping out of her paddock. And that fence line is pretty high!
It's good to know that she's a good jumper, but it's bad for her to be jumping out. Eek!
There's a lot of grey ponies running around. Here's some of the types:

Flea-bitten Grey Ponies

 Flea-bitten grey ponies are some beautiful ponies. The have dainty little flecks of brown on their gleaming grey coats. They also have grey manes and tails. Many have it around the eyes and muzzle, but a lot are blessed with having it all around their coats. Some Lipizzaner ponies have it around their eyes and cheeks. The flea-bitten grey ponies are amazing indeed. :)

Dapple grey ponies

 Dapple grey ponies have little circles of darker grey hairs on their coat. Inside this circles are lighter grey hairs. These circles are called dapples. These dapples are usually around the rump and belly area, coming up to neck. The dapple grey ponies can have silver-white, grey, or silver-blonde manes and tails.

 Steel grey ponies

gotta go!!

Next blog: Tomorrow or later on