Pop Quiz!

Each picture below shows something in the horse world you should probably be aware of. In-depth knowledge isn't required, but you should be able to identify basically what is pictured. Don't worry, there's only five questions. Ready? Go!

Answers Below








1. Pin Firing (or freeze firing). Although this is becoming more and more rare, you can still spot it on older horses, and in some uneducated parts of the country, it's still done. Basically, people stick red-hot metal pins (or pins covered in liquid nitrogen) into a lame horse's leg in the theory that doing more damage will prompt the body to heal the entire leg more effectively. Ugh.

2. Bot eggs. Gross, but pretty common in overgrown pastures here in Wisconsin. Scrape off with a bot knife and make sure you're following a worming schedule.

3. Eponychium. Totally normal, this is the soft covering over a newborn foal's hooves. The covering protects the mare's womb from her foal's sharp little hooves while he's still inside. Once the foal is born, the eponychium (or "foal slippers") dry up, get stringy and fall off in a short time.

4. Semen collection tube. In artificial insemination, this is where the stallion's penis goes while he mounts the dummy mare. Occasionally it's a fancy dummy with one of these cup things built in, but most of the time it's somebody's job to hold it.

5. Eruption bumps! Totally normal in young horses, the bumps are the result of teeth coming in.


Well, how did you do on your pop quiz?