Famous Horses and their Famous Riders Quiz

Answer: The Duke of Wellington

Copenhagen was a mixed breed stallion (Thoroughbred and Arabian) whose bloodline included John Bull, winner of the 1792 Epsom Derby. After the victory at Waterloo, Copenhagen was retired to the Duke's manor home where he lived to the ripe old age of 28. When he died on February 12, 1836, he was given a royal sendoff with a funeral that included full military honors and tributes. After the duke defeated Napoleon, Louis XVIII took the French throne while Napoleon took a hike to the island of St. Helena where he died in 1821. His horse named Marengo was captured after the battle.
Marshall Ney was Napoleon's number one man, and von Blucher was a Prussian ally of the coalition forces under the Duke of Wellington.

Interesting fact: Napoleon was known as "The Little Corporal", though there is disagreement as to his height.

Answer: Jesse James

Stonewall was one of several horses owned by the leader of the James Gang. Jesse (born September 15, 1847) also rode, among others the black horse, Ebony, which he used for many of his nighttime shenanigans, a mare named Katie, and the encouragingly named Skyrocket. In defiance of the creed of "honor among thieves", Jesse James died when he was gunned down by Robert Ford, a member of his own gang, in Platte City, MO on April 3, 1882.
Jesse James named his horse Stonewall after Civil War Confederate General, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
Late in his life James had become an owner of race horses while living in TN and his most successful thoroughbred was a strawberry mare named Red Fox.

Interesting fact: Jesse James was married to his cousin, one Zerelda Mimms from April 24, 1874 until his death.

Answer: Oxhead

Bucephalus translates from the Greek as Oxhead, coming from the Greek "bous", meaning ox, and "kephale" meaning head.
Bucephalus, which was Alexander the Great's favorite mount, died shortly after the fierce Battle of Hydaspes in the Punjab region of modern Pakistan. Alexander had a city named in his steeds honor and built it surrounding his tomb. The name of the village was Bucephala. (Much of the discussion as to city's exact current location points to a village now part of Pakistan, and re-named Jhelum.)

Answer: Cincinnati

Grant got Cincinnati, a dark bay, as a gift in 1864. He proudly rode the tall horse (17 hands in height) to the formal surrender which ended the Civil War, on April 9, 1865. Cincinnati would live another 13 years before dying in 1878, at Admiral Ammen's farm in Maryland, a year after his master ended his second term as U.S. President.
Republican Ulysses Grant served as the now united country's president for two terms, running from March 4, 1869 (after defeating the Democratic candidate Horatio Seymour), until March 4, 1877. A couple of his other horses were named Egypt and Jeff Davis (really). Grant died July 23, 1885, and is famously buried in "Grant's Tomb", whose official name is the General Grant National Memorial, and is located in Riverside park in New York City.
By the way, Traveller was the famed horse of Robert E. Lee.

Interesting fact: As befitting a man of his stature, "Grant's Tomb" is North America's largest mausoleum.

Answer: Caligula

Incitatus was attended to by a retinue of servants whose sole duty it was to keep the horse as happy as a lark. As has been well documented, Caligula who could make Hannibal Lecter look like Miss Manners, had unconditional love for his fine equine. Rumors abounded throughtout Caligula's reign (37AD-41AD) concerning many oddities about him. One of them was that the not-so-stable Emperor would literally become Incitatus' stable-mate when he slept next to the big horse to protect him on the eve of an important race. Caligula staged many spectacular gladiator fights in the Great Colosseum of Rome to entertain the locals. But all bad guys must come to an end, and on January 24, 41AD, Caligula became "morte" in much the same manner as Julius Caesar, being stabbed circa 30 times. Both senators and members of Caligula's Praetorian Guard were among the cut-ups.

Interesting fact: Caligula was the great nephew of Tiberius, the nephew of Claudius and the cousin of Nero.

Answer: Secretariat

Secretariat finished in the money in 20 of his 21 races, winning 18 of them.
Nicknamed "Big Red", he set the record for the fastest times in all three of racing's Triple Crown events, The Kentucky Derby (1:59.4), The Preakness Stakes (1:53) and The Belmont Stakes (2:24). At the end of 2012, he still held those records. Secretariat was named American Horse of the Year in 1972 and 1973, the only two years he raced. He then retired to stud where he sired over 600 foals. He was euthanized in 1989 at the age of 19.
Ron Turcotte was aboard Secretariat for each leg of the Triple Crown in 1973, and during his career Turcotte won all three of the Triple Crown races twice. Over the couse of his 15 years plus days in the saddle, Turcotte won 3,032 races. His riding days came to a calamatous end in 1978, when a fall off a horse named Flag of Leyte Gulf left him a paraplegic. He lives in Brunswick, Canada which is also the place of his birth.

Interesting fact: In 2007 Secretariat became the first animal elected to the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame.

Answer: El Cid

El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar) ruled Valencia until his death in 1099, and almost 1,000 years later is still revered by many as The National Hero of Spain.
Much of his success on the battlefields came as a result of reading the tactics used by legendary Greek and Roman leaders. He ordered that when he died he was to buried at the Monastery of San Pedro Re Cardena, and that his horse should be buried beside him. After El Cid's death Babieca never had another person ride him. The big stallion, despite many years of hard campaigning in battle after battle, lived 40 years.
In 1919 the burial site for El Cid, his wife Ximene, and his faithful horse was moved to Burgos Cathedral in central Spain. The strikingly beautiful cathedral was designated a World Heritage Site in 1984.

Answer: U.S. President Ronald Reagan

Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo presented El Alamein to Ronald Reagan, the former actor and 40th President of the United States. The 16 hands tall thoroughbred-Arabian cross spent his time at The Reagan ranch known as Rancho Del Cielo, which was named The Tip Top Ranch when the then governor of California purchased it in 1974. Rancho Del Cielo, which translates from the Spanish to "Sky Ranch", sits in the Santa Ynez Mountains near Santa Barbara, CA. Among the foreign dignitaries who have stayed there were Queen Elizabeth II, Mikhail Gorbachev and Brian Mulroney.

When President Reagan was no longer able to ride El Alamein, the big stallion spent the rest of his days at The Alamo Pintado Equine Clinic.

Answer: Queen Elizabeth II

Born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of the House of Windsor, Queen Elizabeth II was given Burmese by the RCMP in 1969. Elizabeth was born May 21, 1926, and has ruled as the British Monarch since 1952. In 2012 she celebrated her Diamond Jubilee commemorating her 60 years on the throne. Elizabeth II followed George VI, who had reigned from 1936-1952 as the leader of the U.K. An avid equestrian she once rode Burmese alongside American President Ronald Reagan when he visited her at Windsor in 1982. Reagan rode astride a mount named Centenial that the Queen had been given in 1973. Burmese died in 1990 at the age of 18 at Windsor Castle's park. At the time of the Queen's 60th jubilee, she was married to Prince Philip whom she wed in 1947. Together they had four children, Princes Charles, Andrew and Edward and one daughter, Ann, Princess Royal.

Interesting fact: Of all the British monarchs, only Queen Victoria has had a longer reign than "QE II". Victoria's rule lasted for over 63 1/2 years until her death in 1901, at the age of 81.

Answer: She wasn't Paul Revere's horse- he borrowed her for the ride.

Paul Revere was a silversmith who had dropped out of school in his early teens to learn the same art from his dad, who was one himself. Paul Revere was involved with the plan of a cadre of fellow patriots in a scheme to alert their neighbors and "the minutemen" of impending danger.

The strategy they came up with was to hang two lanterns atop the tall (191 feet high) Old North Church (193 Salem street) in Boston's North end. If the Redcoats were a-comin' by land only one lantern would be lit, if they were travelling over water, both lanterns would blaze away. Two it was, and as soon as he saw the signal Revere began his fabled dash on the evening of April 18, 1775, allegedly yelling "the British are coming". Paul Revere was born January 1, 1737 and died May 10, 1818 at the age of 83. Twice widowed, he had 16 children, eight by each wife. His remains are at the Granary Burial Ground on Hamilton St. in Boston alonside fellow patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock.