Having volunteered twenty-plus years in the 4-H horse program I have coached a few quiz bowl teams. Most questions in those contests come from horse science textbooks, dealing with equine anatomy, physiology and health. Horse management, colors, breeds and horsemanship are also covered. A few trivia questions can be found in a junior contest. These Q & A are some of the easy ones in a Junior contest (ages 9-13) Senior contestants (ages 14-18) have to answer much harder questions.

Even if you do not have a 4-H or Pony Club at your barn it might be fun to organize a quiz bowl or trivia game for your riding students to play on a rainy day. You an turn almost any board game into a horse trivia game by requiring a player to answer a question before moving the token on the board. Just print the Q & A on index cards and have them draw a card. Roll the dice, answer the question and move the token. If they get the question wrong they forfeit their turn.

Q. What are distal spots?

A. Dark spots found on a white coronet band.

Q. What are two coat colors a horse can have with a white mane and tail?

A. Chestnut and palomino

Q. What are four face markings that have more white than a blaze?

A. Bald face, medicine hat, bonnet face, and apron face.

Q. What is the difference between a roan and a gray horse?

A. A roan has a mixture of white and dark hairs at birth and stays the same throughout its lifetime. A gray is born a solid color. Gray hairs develop and progress with age, turning the horse lighter as it gets older.

Q. What is a tapadera?

A. A stirrup cover.

Q. A pigeon toed horse will do what when it travels?

A. Paddle

Q. Name the racetrack where the Kentucky Derby is run.

A. Churchill Downs

Q. What do you call the deep grooves on either side of the frog?

A. Commissures

Q. What bone is dislocated when a horse is stifled?

A. The patella

Q. Name the two draft horse breeds that originated in England.

A. Shire and Suffolk.

Q. Name the order in which a judge will call for the gaits of five-gaited horses.

A. Walk, trot, slow gait, rack, and canter.

Q. Describe the details of the processional horse that symbolizes that a leader or warrior has died.

A. The horse is properly saddled and led by a uniformed officer. Cavalry boots with spurs are reversed in the stirrup irons and a saber hangs from the right side of the saddle.

Q. What is the medical name for swamp fever?

A. Equine Infectious Anemia

Q. What is the primary cause of a horse barn fire?

A. Careless smoking or use of smoking materials

Q. Why is molasses added to a grain ration?

A. To settle dust and make it taste good.

Q. When would you hear the cry, "Tally Ho?"

A. At a fox hunt when the fox has been sighted.

Q. In which direction should a hoof pick be used?

A. From heel to toe.

Q. Name the breed whose name was taken from the Palouse River?

A. Appaloosa

Q. What is a sprinter?

A. A racehorse that performs best at distances of a mile or less.

Q. The Moab is the product of what two breeds?

A. Morgan and Arabian

Q. What is the maximum height of a pony?

A. 14.2 hands or 58".

Q. How many beats does a canter have?

A. Three

Q. What are the three horse feed classifications?

A. Roughage, concentrates, and mixed feeds.

Q. What are the five coat color variations?

A. Dun, gray, palomino, paint or pinto, and roan.

Q. What is the primary cause of saddle sores?

A. Friction between the saddle or harness and the horse.

Q. How many bones are in the neck of the horse?

A. Seven, as in all mammals.