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| Basic Facts |
On
this page I’m collecting facts on a variety of topics. The
subjects have been chosen at random - usually because a particular
fact has caught my eye and I’ve then built a short list around
it. I hope you find at least some of the facts here interesting!
Some Facts About...
The Pony Club
• The Pony Club was established in England in 1929, as the
junior branch of the Institute of the Horse.
• The Pony Club aims to help young people to enjoy riding
to the full by giving them the opportunity to try different
horse sports, as well as develop their riding and pony care
skills.
• Currently there are more than 110,000 members in 18 countries.
• There are around 40,000 members in the UK.
• The largest international club is in Australia.
• The organisation hosts championships in all the main equestrian
sports: dressage, show jumping, eventing, mounted games, tetrathlon,
polocrosse, polo, endurance and pony racing.
• here are two types of membership: branch membership for
riders with their own ponies and centre membership for riders
who do not own a pony. In the UK there are 357 branches and
345 centres.
• Pony club membership is open to girls and boys under 21
years old.
Horse manure
• A horse can produce nine tonnes of manure each year.
• In 1900 approximately 1,000 tonnes of horse manure
was cleared from London’s streets every day.
• Manure from privately kept horses is classed as household
waste.
• Manure from businesses (such as riding schools) is
classed as industrial waste.
• Manure should be cleared from fields on a regular basis
to help to control parasites and encourage even grazing. This
task is commonly called ‘poo picking’.
• The quality of compost made from horse manure varies
according to the bedding used by owners; straw is best.
• To compost your manure, the muck heap should be turned
regularly and watered if it appears to be drying out.
Horse racing
• The fastest breeds are Thoroughbreds, American
Quarter Horses and Arabs.
American Quarter Horses are considered the fastest sprinters
(up to 55 mph) and take their name from the classic (American)
racing distance of 440 yards – or quarter mile.
• Thoroughbreds are the fastest breed over longer distances
(around 45 mph). They commonly race over distances between
six furlongs (three quarters of a mile) and two miles.
• The largest number of runners in a horse race in the
UK was 66 runners in the 1929 Grand National (source: Guinness
World Records).
• In the UK racehorses’ names cannot be longer than 18
characters and spaces.
• There are 59 race courses in the UK. According to research
carried out by the sports business group at Deloitte, in 2004
horse racing attracted six million spectators; making it the
second most popular spectator sport in the UK.
• The sign language used by bookmakers at racecourses
to secretly communicate changes in the betting odds of a horse
to each other is called ‘tic-tac’.
• Approximately 4,000 race horses leave the sport each
year; either because they have reached the end of a successful
career or they were not suited to life as a race horse.
Age
• On average, horses and ponies live to be twenty-something
years old; although more are living into their thirties due
to improvements in veterinary care.
• The oldest finalist in the Veteran Horse Society’s
championship class at Olympia in 2005 was a 42 year-old pony
called Polo.
• The longest living horse on record was called Billy,
who was foaled in England in 1760 and lived to 62 years of
age. (source: Guinness Book of World Records 1998)
• The oldest horse to win the Badminton Horse Trials
was Horton Point, who was 16 years old when he won the event
in 1994, ridden by Mark Todd (New Zealand).
• The youngest horse to win at Badminton was the five
year-old Golden Willow in the very first year of the competition.
Currently horses have to be at least seven years old to compete
in this event.
• Horses bred for flat racing usually begin their careers
at two years of age. Some will race until they are 10 years
old; most successful flat racehorses will end their careers
at three or four years old to maximise their breeding earnings.
• National Hunt (jump) racehorses are not allowed to
compete in races over hurdles until they are three years old.
The minimum age for horses entered in races over fences is
four years old.
• The oldest horse entered in the 2006 John Smith’s Grand
National is the 2004 winner Amberleigh House, who is 14 years
old. This will be his sixth Grand National.
• The oldest horse to compete in a race was 22 years
old. The horse was called Creggmore Boy and he ran at Cartmel
races in 1962.
• It is possible to establish the age of a horse by looking
at its teeth. The younger the horse the more accurate the
assessment will be.
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