When Black Caviar raced in Melbourne, Australia in the 2012 Australia Stakes her win made it 17 wins out of 17 starts. ‘It’s a wonderful privilege to be on top of Black Caviar. I thank God every day,’ said jockey Luke Nolen. Nolen admitted he restrained the 6-year-old mare at the start, letting the others…
Math is involved at a fast pace when jumping a horse. An average a horse’s stride is 12 feet long, and a rider must figure out during the approach to a jump how to influence the horse’s stride to make the distance to the jump perfect. Do you need to lengthen or shorten your horse’s…
She’s slept inches away from scorpions and snakes, fended off attacks from wild stallions and broken her ribs and collarbone – all as part of an epic 10,000-mile long distance horseback ride. But for West Wales pony breeder Megan Lewis, her four-year challenge to ride from the 2008 Beijing Olympics to the start of the 2012…
Did you know you can use math to estimate the mature height of a foal? Use a string or tape measure and measure the distance from the fetlock to the elbow. Using that same measurement, place one end of the string or tape measure at the elbow and hold it straight up to where her…
The 2012 Kentucky Derby had a surprise winner in I’ll Have Another. He produced a strong finish to catch the front-running Bodemeister in the closing stages of the race and win by one and a half lengths. The distance horses run in the Kentucky Derby is 1 1/4 miles. A furlong is 1/8th of a…
Shackleford Island is a part of North Carolina’s Cape Lookout National Seashore, and home to 118 wild horses. These horses are likely descendants of those that escaped shipwrecks in the 1500s. In 1974, Dan Rubenstein, then a Duke Ph.D. student of zoology, began a study of their social lives. 1. This is 2019. How long…
The sport of Vaulting is a combination of dance and gymnastics performed on the back of a moving horse. To excel, the rider and horse must develop a high level of trust and coordination. Both the horse and the vaulter score points. Competitors in the beginner divisions vault on horses that are walking or trotting.…
Hannah Hammond and her barrel racing buddy, Jackie Ganter, were first or second in all three incentive races at a barrel racing competition held at the Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene, Texas. Hannah placed seventh in the Most Consistent Horse contest with a 0.294-second difference factor between her three runs of 15.644, 15.758 and…
Alex Hunter recently completed a four-year apprenticeship and qualified as a farrier – a profession traditionally dominated by men – so she can now use the letters Dip WCF after her name. She is in the early stages of building up her business, aiming to shoe around six horses a day. “I work in and…
Imagine you want to build a new pasture on your farm for your horses. The first step is to measure out the section you want to fence. One sunny day a friend comes by to help and the two of you measure the dimensions for the new field as shown below. 1. Calculate the perimeter…