If Wishes Were Horses Trivia Quiz

Answer: St Petersburg

The monument known as the Bronze Horseman is a huge equestrian statue of Peter the Great located in the Senate Square of the Russian city of St Petersburg, founded by Peter himself in 1703. Commissioned by Catherine the Great, and created by French sculptor Etienne Maurice Falconet, the statue was inaugurated in 1782. The statue's creation and casting were fraught with technical problems and personal conflict between the sculptor and the empress; the gigantic pedestal - known as Thunder Stone, an enormous piece of granite that originally weighed 1500 tonnes (1653 tons) - is believed to be the largest stone ever moved by humans. The statue represents Peter on horseback; the tsar's horse is rearing as if on the brink of a cliff, and trampling a snake, a likely symbol of treachery.

The name of "Bronze Horseman" comes from an epic poem by Alexander Pushkin, written in 1833, and considered one of the masterpieces of Russian literature. Pushkin was inspired to write his poem - in which the story of the foundation of St Petersburg and the sad tale of two poor, young lovers are interwoven - by the ambiguous message conveyed by the statue's outstretched arm, which could be interpreted as a threat as well as a gesture of protection. According to a 19th century legend, if the Bronze Horseman remains standing in the centre of St Petersburg, the city will never be taken by enemy forces - which was proved true during the 900-day siege of Leningrad (the city's Soviet-era name) in World War II.

Answer: Patti Smith

Known for her intense performances that blended music with poetry and improvisation, Patti Smith was already a veteran of the NYC underground rock scene when she recorded "Horses". Produced by John Cale (formerly of Velvet Underground), and recorded at Electric Lady Studios in August-September 1975, the album was released on 10 November of the same year on the Arista label. Smith's band (the Patti Smith Group) included Lenny Kaye (guitar), Ivan Král (bass), Richard Sohl (keyboards), and Jay Dee Daugherty (drums). Allen Lanier (RIP), former keyboardist of Blue Oyster Cult, and Smith's long-time partner, guests on the album's final song, "Elegie", while Tom Verlaine of Television guests of "Break It Up". Opening with a rousing cover of Van Morrison's "Gloria", "Horses" is one of the most influential releases of the 1970s; in 2009 it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation into the National Recording Registry. A stunning, black-and-white portrait of Smith by legendary photographer Robert Mapplethorpe graces the album's cover. The "horses" of the title reflect Smith's wish to shake up the world of rock music, which she felt had grown stale after the turmoil of the Sixties and the loss of so many important musicians of that decade.

The statue in the photo represents a smith - a trade that has also connections to horses. A blacksmith that manufactures horseshoes and fits them to horses' hooves is called a farrier.

Answer: Achilles

Balios ("dappled") and Xanthos ("blond") were the offspring of Zephyr, the god of the West Wind, and the harpy Podarge. The god Poseidon gave them as a gift to Peleus, king of Phthia, on the occasion of the latter's wedding to the sea goddess Thetis, one of the Nereids. When the Trojan War began, Peleus gave the horses to his son, Achilles, so that they could draw his chariot. In Homer's "Iliad", the horses are mentioned various times: in Book 16, they mourn the death of Patroclus, Achilles' best friend and companion, who was the only person who could truly control them, while in Book 17 Xanthos suddenly speaks, prophesying Achilles' death at the hands of a mortal and a god. The two horses are yoked to Achilles' chariot when the hero, after killing Hector in single combat, desecrates his fallen enemy's body by dragging it through the dust for twelve days.

In the painting by 19th-century French artist Henri Regnault, the divine horses are shown with Achilles' charioteer, Automedon.

Answer: they are safe for horses to eat

The genus Equisetum is the only living remnant of the family Equisetaceae (also known as horsetail family), a group of vascular plants that, like ferns, reproduce by spores rather than seeds. Members of this family dominated the flora of the Earth in the Paleozoic era, hundreds of millions of years ago; many of them were large trees that grew to very respectable sizes. Modern horsetails, on the other hand, first appeared during the Jurassic period: most species have not changed significantly since then. The name "equisetum" means "horse hair" in Latin, referring to the appearance of some of the branching species in the genus; the one in the photo is the field or common horsetail (Equisetum arvense).

Horsetails are found in most parts of the world except Antarctica, though they are probably native to the non-tropical northern hemisphere. In some countries, notably Australia and New Zealand, some species have become invasive species that are particularly difficult to eradicate. Many horsetails are toxic to livestock, especially horses, because they contain thiaminase, an enzyme that prevents absorption of vitamin B1 (thiamine). Extracts of common horsetail have been used for centuries as herbal remedies, and are still marketed as herbal supplements, though their effectiveness is unproven. The stems of unbranched species of Equisetum - such as Equisetum hyemale, or scouring rush - are coated with abrasive silicates, and are traditionally used to scour pots, or in place of sandpaper.

Answer: Kalki

Kalki is the avatar of Vishnu that has been prophesied to end the Kali Yuga ("age of darkness"), the fourth and worst of the four world ages, believed to coincide with the present one. The name is thought by some scholars to be derived from the Sanskrit worlds "kal" ("time") and "karki" ("white"); another etymology explains the name as "Destroyer of Filth" ("kalka"). As the painting in the photo (by late 19th-century Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma) shows, Kalki is described as a warrior of the Brahmin caste, who will put an end to the chaos, wickedness and degeneration ("adharma") of the Kali Yuga, and usher the Satya Yuga ("age of truth"), the first and best of the world ages. Kalki's mount, the white horse, is named Devadatta ("god-given"). In Hindu iconography, Kalki is occasionally depicted as a horse with four arms; he also appears in historic Sikh texts.

"Kalki" is also the title of a pre/post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Gore Vidal (1978) about the leader of a religious cult who claims to be Vishnu's final avatar.

Krishna and Rama are also avatars of Vishnu, while Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, is his consort.

Answer: Mongolia

Kumis (a Turkic word with various transliterations) is a fermented dairy product that has its origins in the steppes of Central Asia; "airag" is the name it is given in Mongolia. A very ancient product - mentioned by Herodotus in his "Histories" (5th century BC), but likely to be much older - kumis is made by fermenting raw, unpasteurized mare's milk, and stirring or churning it regularly during the process; the fermentation of the sugars contained in the milk turns it into a tangy, fizzy, mildly alcoholic drink. A more potent beverage, called "araka" or "arkhi", can be made from kumis through freeze distillation. Kumis is generally served cold or chilled in small ceramic bowls; in parts of Central Asia it is also used to flavour ice cream or other desserts.

Interestingly, one of the reasons for the making of kumis is that unfermented mare's milk tends to have a strong laxative effect. As mares produce milk in limited quantities compared to cows, industrial production of kumis often employs cow's milk, which, however, needs to be fortified (generally by adding sucrose) to allow the fermentation to take place.

A detailed account of the making of kumis can be found in the writings of 13th-century explorer William of Rubruck, a Franciscan missionary who travelled extensively through the lands of the Mongol Empire a few decades before Marco Polo.

Answer: rhinoceros

Horses (family Equidae), tapirs (family Tapiridae) and rhinos (family Rhinocerotidae) are all members of the order Perissodactyla, the odd-toed ungulates. Even if their respective appearances are quite different, all the mammal species included in this order have reduced the number of weight-bearing toes on each foot from the original five to three (rhinos and tapirs - the latter on their hind feet) or one (horses, asses and zebras). The single toes of equines are completely enclosed by hooves, structures made mostly of keratin like human fingernails.

Hippos are the heaviest members of the order Artiodactyla (the even-toed ungulates), to which also moose and other deer belong. Elephants, on the other hand, have their own family, Elephantidae, part of the order Proboscidea. All of these animals are herbivorous.

Answer: cataphract

From a Greek word meaning "completely enclosed", cataphracts were the elite cavalry fielded by many nations from antiquity to the High Middle Ages (1000-1250 AD). The use of heavy cavalry is believed to have originated in the lands around the Caspian Sea, probably in the 4th century BC, or even earlier; the peoples who lived in that region of Eurasia, such as the Scythians and the Parthians, had strong riding traditions. The Persians perfected the use of completely armoured riders and horses, breeding horses that were more heavily muscled in order to be able to carry the extra weight. The Sasanid Empire, which ruled Persia for four centuries before the Muslim conquest in the 7th century AD, was noted for its use of cataphracts, who were covered from head to toe by close-fitting scale armour; this protective covering could weigh as much as 40 kg (88 lb). These knights wielded a long wooden lance, known as "kontos"; their horses were also covered in scale armour. Cataphracts were also widely used in the Byzantine Empire; as witnessed by various artifacts dating from the 4th and 5th centuries AD, the employ of these elite cavalrymen spread as far as China and Korea. The illustration in the photo shows a diagram of Chinese horse armour.

Though these words all sound related to cats, only one of them (catamount, one of the regional names of the puma) has anything to do with felines; all the others are formed with the prefix "cata-".

Answer: Rohan

Located between the forest of Fangorn and the White Mountains, the kingdom of Rohan is first introduced in "The Two Towers", the second part of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". This fictional land, called the Mark (or Riddermark) by its inhabitants, the Rohirrim, is landlocked, and covered mostly by lush grassland. Tolkien modelled the Rohirrim on the Anglo-Saxons (who, however, were not known for their horse culture), and their language is "translated" as Old English. For instance, the name of the kingdom's capital, Edoras, means "enclosures" in that language, and Meduseld (the king's abode, also known as the Golden Hall) means "mead hall". The names of some of the key characters from Rohan also show the prominence of horses in Rohirrim culture: the warrior maiden Éowyn's name means "delight in horses", and her brother Éomer's "horse-famous". The horses bred by the Rohirrim, called "mearas" (simply meaning "horses" in Old English), were renowned in Middle Earth for their beauty, strength and proud nature: in "LOTR", their leader, the magnificent Shadowfax, becomes Gandalf's mount and faithful companion. In Peter Jackson's movie trilogy, the Riders of Rohan wear helmets (inspired by authentic Anglo-Saxon artifacts) decorated with horsetails, such as the one shown in the photo.

According to Tolkien's own etymology, the name "Rohan" comes from the Elvish "Rochand", meaning "land of swift horses"; it is also the name of an ancient noble family from Brittany, in western France - a fact Tolkien was aware of.

Answer: Edgar Degas

Although a mention of Impressionist painter Edgar Degas (1834-1917) will most often bring to mind his many portrayals of ballet dancers, he was also keenly interested in horse racing, which had become increasingly popular in France in the mid-19th century. His passion for horses started in the late 1860s, reportedly after a visit to Normandy; over the years he created a large number of works dedicated to horses, including 45 oil paintings, 250 drawings, and various wax and bronze sculptures.

Racecourses gave Degas the opportunity to paint scenes from contemporary life in which people were not the only characters. In the early 1880s, he created three paintings titled "Before the Race": the one in the photo, held by the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (US), is the best-known of the three, though it is also the one with the least detailed setting, with the horses and their jockeys commanding the viewer's attention. Another well-known painting, though much more traditional in execution and setting, is the one titled "At the Races" (1877-80), part of the collection of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.