Horse Freaks & Freak Horses: World records edition
Clutter up your brain with these completely useless and random yet fascinating bits of equine trivia, collected from the Guinness Book of World Records.
The longest distance walked by a horse on two legs is 95 ft. 5 in. and was achieved by Gregory Ancelotti (Italy) riding Doc on the set of Lo Show Dei Record, in Milan, Italy, on April 25, 2009.
The highest price paid for a thoroughbred race horse at public auction is $16 million for a two-year-old, then unnamed colt, who had yet to even race. The Forestry colt was bought through an agent, Demi O’Byrne (Ireland), in the auction held at Calder Race Course, Florida on February 28, 2006. The bay colt was bred in Florida and sold at auction the year before (July 2005) for $425,000.
The oldest horse twins are Taff and Griff, who were born in 1982 and are owned by the Veteran Horse Society, Cardigan, North Pembrokeshire, UK. Tiff and Griff are identical male twins of the Cremello breed, measuring 11.2 hh. Taff and Griff spent their entire lives together giving children rides at London Zoo before coming to the Veteran Horse Society.
The world’s oldest horse stables were established by the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramses II (1304-1237 BC) to breed horses for war, hunting and recreation. They were discovered in early 1999 by a joint German-Egyptian archeologicial team in the ancient city of Piramesse, in the Nile Delta, Egypt. The stables are also believed to be the largest, covering approximately 182,986 square feet and housing 460 horses at one time. The stables were built on a slant so the horse urine could drain away and be used for fertilizer. A courtyard and horse-bathing pool were also discovered.
The most mounts/dismounts on a horse in 30 seconds is 16 and was achieved by Liu Wei from the Zhoukou Acrobatic Troupe (China) in the Hangzhou Safari Park, Hangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China, on November 27, 2010.
The most numbers correctly identified by a horse in one minute is 19 and was achieved by ‘Lukas’, who was assisted by his owner and trainer Karen Murdock (USA) at Walnut, CA, on June 16, 2010. ‘Lukas’ is a 17-year-old thoroughbred gelding.
The longest tail on a horse is 12 ft. 6 in. and was measured on the mare JJS Summer Breeze on August 23, 2007. She is owned by Crystal and Casey Socha of Augusta, Kansas.
The world record for the oldest racehorse to win on the flat was aged 19 years. Al Jabal, a pure bred arab, ridden by Brian Boulton, owned by Andrea Boulton (both UK) won The Three Horseshoes Handicap Stakes (6 furlongs) on June 9, 2002 at Barbury Castle, Wiltshire, UK. Al Jabal is a chestnut gelding, whose date of birth is April 5, 1983 and is registered with the Arab Horse Society.
The largest horse quadrille involved 103 Haflinger horses and riders during the Equitana Open Air horse festival on May 18, 2008. The event was organized by Haflinger Gestüt Ziegelhof and held at Neuss Racecourse, Neuss, Germany.
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