Frightened Horses Trivia Quiz

Answer: lipizzaner

The Lipizzaner, also known as the Lipizzan, gets its name from the Slovenian village of Lipica, which lies on the Italian border and is home to a stud farm originally established by Archduke Charles II of Austria, during the days of the Habsburg Empire.

The stud farm was relocated multiple times after an earthquake in 1802, which killed several of its horses, but eventually returned to its original home and is still active today. The Lipizzaner was bred from a mixture of Andalusian, Berber and Arabian horses initially, with Italian breeds later being added to the mix, and the majority of modern Lipizzaners are grey, although they used to be a variety of colours.

The Spanish Riding School (which is actually based in Vienna) uses Lipizzaners for dressage training.

Answer: clydesdale

The Clydesdale, named after the Scottish county of Clydesdale (now Lanarkshire), is a big unit of a horse that was originally bred as a draught horse (i.e. for pulling carts and other heavy loads). They were originally bred from imported Flemish stallions in the 18th century who mated with local mares, resulting in bigger foals.

In the latter half of the 19th century, several Clydesdales were exported to Australia and New Zealand; however, increasing industrialisation and World War 1 caused a drop in their numbers. Today, it is used as a carriage horse; the American brewing company Anheuser-Busch uses a team of eight Clydesdales, the Budweiser Clydesdales, for promotional purposes. Most Clydesdales are dark brown, or bay, with white feet and facial markings.

Answer: hanoverian

If you're a fan of dressage, you might have seen one of these horses in action. The Hanoverian, as its name suggests, is of German origin and is a warmblood horse, meaning that it is a medium-weight horse bred primarily for equestrianism. Although it was originally used in agriculture and as a cavalry horse, the growing demand for sport horses after the Second World War led to the breed being fine-tuned somewhat by adding Thoroughbreds into the mix. Most Hanoverians are grey, chestnut, bay or black; breed regulations mean that Hanoverians who have too much white on their coats cannot be registered.

At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, all three of the winning German team rode Hanoverian geldings in the team dressage event: Heike Kemmer (Bonaparte), Nadine Capellmann (on Elvis Va) and Isabell Werth (on Satchmo).

Answer: danish warmblood

As the Netherlands have the Dutch Warmblood (again, if you're into dressage, you might have seen quite a few riders sitting on one), so Denmark has the Danish Warmblood. The Danish Warmblood is one of the more recent breeds in this quiz, having been created in the mid-20th century.

It was created by breeding Danish mares with stallions from established European bloodlines; as with most warmblood horses, it is subject to strict breeding regulations to ensure that any unsuitable personality traits are bred out and create a horse with a calm temperament.

It is descended from the Fredriksborg, the oldest horse breed in Denmark, and Thoroughbreds and Trakehners (a Prussian breed) were also used in its creation. Like the Hanoverian, it is usually grey, bay, chestnut or black.

Answer: thoroughbred

'Thoroughbred' (with a small t) is also used as a catch-all term for pureblood horses, but the one I'm referring to here is an actual breed (and you might have seen it mentioned in previous answers). It's a hot-blooded horse, meaning that it has a spirited temperament and is on the thin side. England is a country known for its love of horse racing, home to courses such as Aintree and Newmarket, and horse racing has existed in England for centuries; the Thoroughbred started out as a racehorse in the 16th century (King Charles II was a big fan of racing, as was Queen Anne). To create the Thoroughbred, native English mares were bred with imported Arabian, Barb and Turkoman stallions (the Turkoman being an ancestor of Turkmenistan's Akhal-Teke horse).

As well as racing, they have also been used for hunting, police work and equestrian sports, and exported as far as the USA and South Africa over the centuries.

Answer: appaloosa

The Appaloosa is one of the USA's most famous horse breeds, and also one of the most distinctive with its spotted coat, which comes in a variety of patterns and base colours. It is the state horse of Idaho and the mascot of the Florida State Seminoles.

Although spotted horses have been depicted in cave paintings, the Appaloosa of today is descended from the horses bred by the Nez Percé (aka the Niimíipuu) in the 16th and 17th centuries, which Meriweather Lewis described as 'pied'. After suffering a heavy defeat in the Nez Percé War of 1877, they were forced to give up over 1000 of their horses, and those who kept their horses were required to crossbreed them to create draught horses for the US Army.

The breed subsequently went into decline, but experienced a revival following the opening of the Appaloosa Horse Club in 1938.

In the 20th century, the Nez Percé created the Nez Percé horse by breeding Appaloosas with Akhal-Tekes.

Answer: miyako

The Miyako pony, one of eight horse breeds native to Japan, is one of the more obscure breeds in this quiz, and also the rarest. It is named for Miyako Island, the largest of the Miyako Islands in the prefecture of Okinawa and a long-time horse-breeding site. Miyakos are mainly used as draught and riding horses, but were also crossbred around the time of the Second World War with larger stallions to make larger farming horses.

They are usually bay or dun, and resemble the Mongolian horse, from which they are descended; the Yonaguni horse, which hails from Yonaguni Island in the southern Yaeyama Islands, is also a relative. Because there are so few of them, the Japanese government considers them a protected species.

Answer: andalusian

The powerful Andalusian horse, also known as the Pure Spanish Horse, is one of Spain's most notable horse breeds. Once a war horse, the Andalusian was later used for bullfighting and equestrian sports, and is also a popular choice of horses for film and TV; Andalusians have appeared in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' and 'Lord of the Rings' movies, 'Braveheart' and 'Gladiator', amongst other things.

It is descended from Iberian horse breeds, and Carthusian monks bred them for the Spanish Crown in the late 15th century, crossing them with the smaller Spanish Jennet. Today, Andalusians are usually grey, but come in a variety of colours. Football fans may be interested to know that former Real Madrid and Spain captain Sergio Ramos, himself a native of Andalusia, is a big fan of Andalusian horses and owns a stud farm; one of his horses, Yucatán de Ramos, even won a prize at an international horse fair in 2018.

Answer: arabian

If a greyhound was a horse, it would be an Arabian. The long neck and slender body of the Arabian make it a very distinctive beast, and its origins can be traced back as far as 4500 years at least. It was bred to be resilient and capable of surviving the harsh conditions of the desert, alert and co-operative, to make it useful as a war and hunting horse.

The nomadic Bedouin domesticated it and used it for protection, bringing horses inside their tents to act as equine burglar alarms. Mares were also preferred for raids due to being quieter.

The Arabian features in Islamic myth; one story tells of the prophet Mohammed calling his Arabian horses back before they reached an oasis, and when five mares returned, he named them his favourite horses and called them 'Al Khamsa', or 'The Five'. Arabians all have black skin, which protects them from the sun, while the most common coat colours are bay, grey and chestnut.

Answer: camargue

The Camargue horse is named for a natural region in the south of France, on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, which is partly comprised of wetlands and is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including over 400 species of birds and Camargue cattle, a black breed with large horns.

It is one of Europe's oldest breeds and is the traditional mount of the gardian, a French cowboy who herds Camargue bulls; Camargue horses are also used for equestrian sports and gardian games. Living in the marshes for centuries has made the breed very hardy, with tough hooves.

They are grey in colour and physically similar to the Barb, a North African riding horse breed associated with the Berber/Amazigh people. A group of semi-feral Camargue horses managed by a gardian is known as a 'manade'; manades should contain at least four mares of breeding age.