Just Horsing Around Trivia Quiz

Answer: Traveller

Traveller carried General Robert E. Lee through most of the great battles of the American Civil War. Rienzi was General Sherman's mount, and Cincinnati was ridden by General Grant. As far as I know, there was no officer on either side who had a horse named Virginia.

Traveller was an even-tempered horse of great stamina, which made him an ideal mount for a general who was usually found in the thick of things at the front. There's only one instance of Traveller not standing his ground in battle. It occurred at the Second Battle of Bull Run when General Lee was holding Traveller by the bridle, having dismounted to reconnoitre his position. Something spooked Traveller and the horse pulled Lee down onto a tree stump. Both of Lee's hands were broken and through the remainder of that campaign a courier rode in front leading Traveller.

After the war, Traveller accompanied Lee to Washington College in Lexington, where the horse was a great favourite with the students. In 1870 Traveller took part in Lee's funeral procession, bearing the General's saddle and boots, which were draped in black crepe, and following the caisson carrying Lee's coffin. In 1871, Traveller fell victim to tetanus, which was incurable back then, and he was euthanized.

Answer: The Duke of Wellington

Copenhagen was a chestnut named in honour of the siege of Copenhagen in 1807, the year he was born. Noted for his cantakerous disposition, Copenhagen began his career as a racehorse, but proved to be less than a success. His owner sold him to the Duke of Wellington who was then on campaign in Spain.

Copenhagen and the Duke became a great team, and when the Duke retired from active service, Copenhagen went home to England with him. When Wellington became Prime Minister of Britain in 1828 he rode Copenhagen up Downing Street to No.10.

When Copenhagen died in 1836, at the great age of 29, he was given a funeral with full military honours. The Duke was horrified when he noticed that the body of his beloved horse was missing a hoof. It wasn't until after the Duke died in 1852 that one of his servants confessed to the mutilation. He had cut off Copenhagen's hoof as a memento. The second Duke had the relic made into an inkstand.

Answer: King William III

In 1702 William III died of pneumonia, which was a complication resulting from being thrown when his horse, Sorrel, stumbled into a mole's burrow. Toasts to "the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat" (i.e. the mole whose burrow caused Sorrel to stumble and throw the king) were frequently made by Jacobites, those loyal to the Roman Catholic King James II, William's father-in-law, who had lost the throne to his Anglican daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Mary died in 1694, and after William's death he was succeeded by Mary's sister Anne, the last of the Stuart monarchs.

Answer: Dick Turpin

There are a number of romantic legends woven around Turpin (1705-1739) but the truth is that he was a squalid little thief and murderer. He took to the road before he reached his 20th birthday in order to supplement the wage he earned as a butcher's apprentice. In 1728, Turpin set up as a butcher in Essex and stocked his shop with the carcasses of the cattle and sheep that he and his gang of rustlers had stolen. When his rustling activities were discovered by the authorities, Turpin escaped arrest, abandoned his butcher's shop, and took up smuggling and house breaking. He became a full-time highwayman in 1735, His derring-do made Turpin a folk hero and the newspapers of the day always sold more copies if they ran a story about him. In 1737 Turpin moved his sphere of activity to Lincolnshire and then to Yorkshire. He was finally apprehended, tried as a horse thief and hanged at York in 1739.

The famous ride from London to York, a distance of some 200 miles, was supposedly accomplished in 24 hours, which is an impossibility, given the state of the roads in the 18th century! Black Bess would have needed wheels, wings and an engine to have achieved such a feat. That story is actually derived from Harrison Ainsworth's novel 'Rookwood', written almost 100 years after Turpin's execution.

Answer: Incitatus

Incitatus was the favourite horse of the Roman emperor, Caligula. Caligula spent much of his relatively short reign (just under four years) taking revenge on those he felt had mistreated him. While he certainly had a well-embedded vicious streak, Caligula was not quite as bad as writers like Suetonius have painted him. The charges that he committed incest with his sisters, bumped off his mother and grandmother, his uncle and several other members of his family, can also likely be taken with a grain of salt. Toward the end of his life, which came when he was attacked and murdered by his own Praetorian Guard under the command of Nervo Macro, who assumed the imperial crown after Caligula's demise, Caligula certainly displayed erratic and cruel behaviour, but the story about his plan to appoint Incitatus to the position of Consul is probably not true.

Bucephalus was the horse which carried Alexander the Great on his campaigns, Pegasus is the winged horse of Greek myth who was ridden by the hero Bellerophon, and according to legend Llamrei was King Arthur's trusty steed.

Answer: Paul Revere

"Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere..."

Unfortunately, Longfellow's stirring poem, written almost 100 years after the event, is about as historically accurate as the BBC TV series 'The Tudors', which is to say, not at all!

On the night of April 18-19, 1775, just hours before the battles of Lexington and Concord, Revere performed his "Midnight Ride". He and William Dawes were instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren to ride from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the movements of the British Army, which was beginning a march from Boston to Lexington, ostensibly to arrest Hancock and Adams and seize the weapons stores in Concord.

In the days before April 18, Revere had instructed Robert Newman, the sexton of the Old North Church, to send a signal by lantern to alert colonists in Charlestown as to the movements of the troops. In what is well known today by the phrase "one if by land, two if by sea", one lantern in the steeple would signal the army's choice of the land route, while two lanterns would signal the route "by water" across the Charles River. This was done to get the message through to Charlestown in the event that both Revere and Dawes were captured. Revere rode a horse loaned to him by John Larkin, Deacon of the Old North Church.

Riding through present-day Somerville, Medford, and Arlington, Revere warned patriots along the way, many of whom then set out to spread the word. By the end of the night there were probably as many as 40 riders throughout Middlesex County carrying the news of the army's advancement. Revere did not shout the famous phrase later attributed to him ("The British are coming!"), largely because the mission depended on secrecy and shouting would have been dumb because the countryside was crawling with Redcoat patrols. Besides, the colonial residents were all legally British subjects. Revere's warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere's own description, was "The Regulars are coming out," and it was delivered sotto voce.

Revere arrived in Lexington around midnight, with Dawes arriving about a half hour later, and he delivered Dr. Warren's warning to Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Revere and Dawes then decided to ride on toward Concord, where the militia's arsenal was hidden. They were joined by Samuel Prescott, a doctor who happened to be in Lexington "returning from a lady friend's house at the awkward hour of 1 a.m."

Revere, Dawes, and Prescott were detained by British troops at a roadblock on the way to Concord. Prescott jumped his horse over a wall and escaped into the woods; Dawes also escaped, though soon after he fell off his horse and did not complete the ride. Revere was held for questioning and was then escorted at gunpoint by three British officers back toward Lexington. At daybreak they were nearing Lexington Meeting-house when shots were heard. The British officers immediately confiscated Revere's horse, and rode toward the Meeting House. Revere, left to his own devices, walked through a cemetery and pastures to Rev. Clarke's house where Hancock and Adams were still holed up. As the battle on Lexington Green continued, Revere helped John Hancock and his family escape from Lexington with their possessions, including a trunk of Hancock's papers.

The warning delivered by the three riders successfully allowed the militia to repel the British troops in Concord, who were harried by guerrilla fire along the road back to Boston, and the Revolutionary War was underway.

As to the other choices, what with all the excitement, nobody thought to record the names of the horses on which Lady Godiva made that highly doubtful ride through Coventry or Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped after the debacle at Culloden, and Dick Turpin's horse was Black Bess.

Answer: King Richard III

Reportedly, Richard's last words were "Treason! Treason! Treason" when he realized that Lord Stanley had switched sides, abandoned the Plantagenet cause and thrown his support to the Tudors. As a devoted Ricardian I echo Richard's cry!

It was Shakespeare who had Richard staggering around Bosworth Field yelling 'A horse, a horse! My kingdom, etc." Always keep in mind that Shakespeare was writing during the reign of Henry VII's granddaughter Elizabeth, so it was politic for him to present Richard as the monster depicted in the official Tudor version. The Tudors were ever sensitive about their tenuous claim to the throne.

Answer: Queen Elizabeth II

Burmese was born in 1962 at the RCMP ranch in Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan, trained in Ottawa and presented to Her Majesty the Queen in 1969. The beautifully-behaved black mare quickly became the Queen's favourite mount and she rode Burmese for eighteen consecutive years at the annual Trooping of the Colour (aka the Queen's Birthday Parade), one of those uniquely British ceremonial events which Brits take for granted and tourists adore!

In 1986, Burmese was put out to pasture and spent the rest of her long life at Windsor. She died in 1990, at the ripe old age of 38. Since 1986, the Queen has not reviewed her troops on horseback, but from a carriage or seated on a platform. In 2005, when visiting the RCMP Headquarters in Regina, Saskatchewan, the Queen unveiled a statue of herself on Burmese.

Answer: Tom Mix

Tom Mix (1880-1940) was the star of many early Western movies. He made over 300 films between 1910 and 1935, the majority of which were silent features, with only the last nine being 'talkies'. He is credited with having defined the persona of screen cowboys and had enormous influence on all those who succeeded him in the genre.

Harry Carey, Dustin Farnum and William S. Hart were also stars of westerns on the silent screen.

Tony the Wonder Horse first appeared in 'The Heart of Texas', in 1917, taking over from Mix's previous horse, Old Blue. From 1919-1929, Mix rode Tony in all his films and became a star in his own right, receiving masses of fan mail every week. Tony was noted for ignoring typical commands such as 'Whoa', demonstrating his ability to understand more complex commands delivered in whole sentences. He was also a gifted stunt horse.

Tony retired in 1929, but that information wasn't released to the public until 1932. His successor was Tony the Miracle Horse who was no kin to the original Tony.

Answer: Rodrigo Diaz, El Cid

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043-1099) was a Castilian nobleman, who conquered the Moorish city of Valencia, and subsequently governed there. Díaz was educated in the royal court of Castile and became the alférez, the chief general, of Alfonso X, and his most valuable asset in the fight against the Moors. He was known as El Cid, which means The Lord (no, not the Messiah but Lord as in ruler!)

Babieca or Bavieca was El Cid's warhorse, and legends abound about both horse and rider. According to one of these stories, Rodrigo's coming-of-age gift from his godfather was his pick of a horse from a famous Andalusian herd. El Cid picked a horse which his godfather castigated as a poor choice, exclaiming "Babieca!" (stupid!) Another has it that that a knight challenged El Cid for the right to call himself Campeador (the king's champion). The King, who favoured El Cid, gave him his own superbly trained war horse, Babieca. In this story, it is said that Babieca came from the Babia region in León, Spain, hence the horse's name. In the poem 'Carmen Campidoctoris', Babieca appears as a gift from "a barbarian" to El Cid, so his name could mean "horse of the barbarian".

Regardless, Babieca was greatly loved by El Cid, who allegedly requested that Babieca be buried with him in the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña.

Answer: Big Ben

Although considered by many to be too big (he was over 17 hands) for show jumping, there was something about the seven year old Belgian Warmblood that caught the expert eye of Canadian Ian Millar. He bought the seven year old horse from his Dutch owner for $45,000 and one of the greatest man/horse partnerships was born.

In 1984, Big Ben, with Millar up, began competing in show jumping events, touching off what would become a long and successful career. Millar rode Big Ben to more than 40 Grand Prix titles including six Spruce Meadows Derbys, as well as taking the world cup show jumping championship two years in a row - the first World Cup Final coming at Gothenburg, Sweden in 1988, and the second the next year in Tampa, Florida. In 1989 he won the Grand Prix of Bordeaux, France and the Grand Prix of Stuttgart, Germany, ranking Millar number one in the world. Millar and Big Ben also won the du Maurier International twice, in 1987 and 1991, the world's richest grand prix event at that time.

In 1992 Big Ben survived two bouts with colic and he was injured when the horse trailer in which he was being transported with other horses was inVolved in a serious accident. Two of the horses died and a third became unrideable due to its injuries. A fourth balked at entering a trailer ever again. Big Ben proved his champion's stamina by healing rapidly and winning a Grand Prix only two months later.

In 1994, after 11 years of competition, Millar retired Big Ben, now 18 years old, to Millar Brooke Farm. In 1996, Millar and Big Ben were inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. Big Ben is only the second horse to receive this honour (the first was the racehorse Northern Dancer). In December 1999, Big Ben suffered a third bout of colic which proved to be untreatable. Rather than prolonging his beloved horse's pain, Millar had Big Ben euthanized, and buried him on a hill overlooking Millar Brooke Farm.

Big Ben and Millar represented Canada in more than 30 Nations Cup events and were members of seven Nations Cup-winning teams. They competed in three Olympic Games and won two Pan-Am gold medals. Among their many other titles, Millar and his grand gelding claimed more than 40 victories in Grand Prix jumping events and collected more than $1.5 million in prize money.

Answer: Marengo

Named for the Battle of Marengo, Marengo was imported to France in 1799 as a 6-year-old. Tradition has it that the grey Arabian was bred at the famous El Naseri Stud in Egypt. Although small (only 14.1 hands) he was a reliable, steady, and courageous mount.

Marengo carried the Emperor in the Battle of Austerlitz, Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Battle of Wagram, and Battle of Waterloo, and was wounded eight times. Marengo was captured in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo by Baron Petre, who later brought him to Britain and sold him to General Angerstein of the Grenadier Guards.

Marengo died at the old age of 38, and his skeleton (minus a hoof) was preserved and is now on display at the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London. The hoof was given to the officers of the Brigade of Guards by General Angerstein as a snuff box.

What is it with these people who lop off horse's hooves to make inkstands and snuff boxes? They're as bad as the people who made umbrella stands out of elephant legs!

Answer: Comanche

While legend has it that Comanche was the only survivor of the US forces at the Little Big Horn, eyewitnesses maintained this is not true. There were some 29 other horses left riderless and wandering around the corpse-strewn battlefield on that fateful day.

Comanche (1862-1891) was a buckskin, standing some 15 hands, and the story goes that he was selected from the Seventh Cavalry's herd by Captain Keough as his personal mount for the battle.

Comanche suffered both gunshot and arrow wounds and was brought back with the wounded to Fort Abraham in Lincoln where he soon became the regimental mascot and thereafter accompanied the regiment until his death at Fort Riley, Kansas on November 9, 1891.

On April 10, 1878 Colonel Sturgis, Commander of the Seventh Cavalry, issued the following General Order:

"HEADQUARTERS SEVENTH U.S. CAVALRY;

FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN, DAKOTA TERRITORY

April 10, 1878.

General Orders No. 7.

1) The horse known as "Comanche" being the only living representative of the bloody tragedy of the Little Big Horn, Montana, June 25, 1876, his kind treatment and comfort should be a matter of special pride and solicitude on the part of the 7th Cavalry, to the end that his life may be prolonged to the utmost limit. Though wounded and scarred, his very silence speaks in terms more eloquent than words of the desperate struggle against overwhelming odds of the hopeless conflict, and heroic manner in which all went down that day.

2) The commanding officer of I troop will see that a special and comfortable stall is fitted up for Comanche; he will not be ridden by any person whatever under any circumstances, nor will he be put to any kind of work.

3) Hereafter upon all occasions of ceremony (of mounted regimental formation), Comanche, saddled, bridled, and led by a mounted trooper of Troop I, will be paraded with the regiment.

By Command of Colonel Sturgis:

(Signed) E.A. Garlington,

1st Lieutenant and Adjutant,

7th U.S. Cavalry

Answer: General George Washington

The most famous of General Washington's horses were Magnolia, Nelson and Blueskin, all of whom shared the honour of carrying him through the Revolutionary War. Washington paid his stepson John Custis 500 pounds for Magnolia, an enormous sum in those days.

After the war was over, Washington kept Nelson and Blueskin in comfort at Mount Vernon. in his Early Descriptions Notebook, vol., 1, in 1785, Robert Hunter, Jr., wrote: "I afterwards went into his (Washington's) stables where among an amazing number of horses I saw old Nelson, now 22 years of age, that carried the General almost always during the war. Blueskin, another fine old horse next to him, now and then had that honor ... They have heard the roaring of many a cannon in their time. The General makes no manner of use of them now. He keeps them in a nice stable where they feed away at their ease for their past services."

At the end of the war, Washington sold Magnolia to Lighthorse Harry Lee. In a letter to Lee, Washington wrote: "I am willing to confirm the bargain because it is my intention to breed mules only ... and I wish to avoid the expense of keeping Magnolia. He is in high health, spirits and flesh and can be delivered in good order." Lee was more than happy to acquire the stallion.

Interesting historical trivia: Washington's stepson John Custis was the father-in-law of Robert E. Lee, who was the son of Lighthorse Harry Lee.

Answer: Buttermilk

Buttermilk (1941-1972), a light buckskin Quarter Horse with dark points, was ridden by Ms Evans in the popular TV show in which she starred with her husband Roy Rogers. Rogers, of course, rode his Golden Palomino, Trigger. Both horses were extremely popular and became a 1950s marketing success, with both riders and horses reproduced on lunchboxes, as cast iron and plastic replicas, lamps, and dozens of other products.

After Buttermilk died in 1972, his hide was stretched over a plaster horse which was displayed at the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Victorville, California. The museum has since been relocated to Branson, Missouri and is still a mecca for fans of the King of the Cowboys and his missus.

Silver was the horse ridden by The Lone Ranger, Nellybelle was the faithful jeep driven by Rogers' sidekick Pat Brady, and Rocinante was the sorry-looking horse ridden by Don Quixote during his windmill-tilting tournaments.