Knowledge Gaps

Our Pony Club is getting ready to do Quiz Rally, which is exactly what it sounds like: a competition based on horse knowledge. There's several sections, many based on oral answers but also on practical demonstration, object identification/comparison, and a group section where everyone can confer to come up with an answer.

We had our first meeting today to do a quick rundown of subjects and figure out what areas we need to cover. Everyone ended up with several topics to study, which we'll then present to the rest of the group. I tried to steer towards areas that interest me, so here's mine.

• Rally rules for Eventing and Polocrosse (equipment, fence heights, elimination rules, team sizes, etc)
• Communicable diseases (symptoms, ways of transmission, long-term effects)
• Bits/misc tack (effect, fit, what is allowed at what level of Pony Club)

We went through some sample questions, and I was surprised at how many gaps there are in my knowledge. I know almost nothing about diseases, for example. I know Rhino is an important vaccine for pregnant mares; I know Strangles is nasty and very contagious, but rarely fatal; I know EEE and WEE (eastern/western equine encephalitis) have neurological symptoms....but I really don't know the specifics of each, like how to recognize and treat them or their vectors.

I know the different cheekpieces and mouthpieces of snaffle bits, but I don't know how to properly attach a pelham.

I know next to nothing about poisonous plants.

I can recognize bad leg conformation, but I have trouble giving specifics, like differentiating over at the knee and back at the knee.

I know what the farrier tools are and generally what order they're used in, but I didn't know how to describe a pair of pincers.

I'm still confused about laminitis and founder, though I know the basics.

And I sure as heck don't know much about foxhunting! Some of the sample questions included definitions for "brush," "covert," "view-halloo," and "whippers-in." (Those would be "the tail of the fox," "a place where the fox resides such as forest or brush," "a call made to alert the hunt that the fox has been sighted," and "staff members of the hunt who assist the huntsman in managing the hounds.")

So I'm actually really looking forward to the weekly study sessions we have planned for Quiz Rally. There's some things I need to learn!


As far as I can tell, most people have these knowledge gaps: areas of horse knowledge that you know you should know, but somehow or another you just don't. Sometimes it's things that don't matter so much, like which order a farrier's tools are used in. Sometimes it's things that you really should know, like local poisonous plants and how to identify them.

I'm finding that Pony Club is a good resource for all these little holes, because you're forced to acquire that knowledge in order to rate up -- not to mention everyone is willing to teach you what you need to know.

Do you guys have the same sort of thing I do, areas that you just don't know enough about? Could you be put in a situation tomorrow where that knowledge could make a difference? And where's your nearest horse encyclopedia? ;-)