ranch sorting

Ranch Sorting – What’s That?

Ranch sorting is taking a chore common to cattle ranching and putting it into a competitive setting. Basically, you’re moving cattle from one pen to another, but with rules. Ranch sorting is a timed event that consists of one, two or three riders on a team and eleven head of cattle that are numbered from…

Churchill Downs

Math and Triple Crown 2013

Three hundred and sixty-nine horses were confirmed for the 2013 Triple Crown series prior to the Jan. 26 deadline for early nominations. Each horse cost $600 to nominate. 1. How much money was paid altogether by the owners of these early nominees? This year’s total of early nominees is down from the 398 horses made…

Napravnik Closes Out Career-Best Year

Jockey Rosie Napravnik closed out a career-best season in 2012, securing the highest spot ever for a female jockey on the North American leader board. Finishing the year with $12,451,713 in purse earnings and 193 wins with 191 seconds and 167 thirds from 1,200 starts, Napravnik finished eighth among the top jockeys in the nation…

Manipuri Ponies: The Original Polo Pony

‘Manipuri Ponies’ are said to be one of five recognised breeds of horses found in India, the rest being Kathiawari, Marwari, Zanskari and Bhutia. Equestrian experts have conflicting views about the origin of the ancient breed, some say that it may have developed from the Tibetan pony or the Mongolian wild horse. Chand Bibi Playing Polo;…

One-in-a-Million White Standardbred Foal

Alabar Bloodstock, a Standardbred breeding farm, is celebrating the birth of what many believe may be the first white standardbred foal ever born in Australia. The one-in-a-million colt is being treated like a Hollywood star at the Goulburn Valley farm where he was foaled. “He’s not an albino and he’s not a grey, because grey’s…

Frankel Retires Unbeaten

Frankel, hailed as the greatest horse of them all, has been retired after his 14th and final victory. For three hundred years breeders have plotted to create the perfect equine running machine. “I can’t believe that in the history of racing there has ever been a better racehorse,” said Frankel’s trainer, Sir Henry Cecil, after…

World’s Highest Horse Race

Clansmen and monks in the Upper Dolpa area of Nepal first gathered eight centuries ago to pray, feast, fight over property and compete for the title of fastest horseman in the Himalayas. 1. How many years are in eight centuries? They have met every 12 years since in the Tibetan Year of the Dragon for…