Welcome to Parents
Kids Go Racing is a fun way for children under 12 years old to learn about horses and racing. Rest assured – all information we collect will not be shared to anyone and we won’t reference gambling on these pages. We do sometimes link to external sites (such as YouTube for sharing videos), which are not under our control so we do advise parental supervision. Feel free to drop us a line if you have questions or comments:
Email Hopples
and Stirrup
Let the friendly horse mascots know what your favourite part about going to the races is.
Coming Soon!
Keep an eye out for new activities coming to this page.
Events near you
Hopples and Stirrup will be at an Interislander Summer Festival event near you soon. Find out when they are coming.
Meet Hopples and Stirrup!!
Hopples
Hi Kids! I’m Hopples, and I’m a Standardbred horse. I was born in Christchurch and I love travelling all around New Zealand during the summer to watch my harness racehorse friends race. I really like to make new friends and I enjoy having my photo taken, so if you see me at a racecourse come and shake hooves and say “Hi”.
Favourite Food: Sugar cubes
Best school subject: Maths
Hobbies: Shopping for new horse shoes and running around in the field with my friends.
Favourite saying: The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. (Dr Seuss)
Stirrup
Hello! My name is Stirrup. I was born in the mighty Waikato and I am a Thoroughbred horse. The thing that I like most about being a Kids Go Racing horse is that I get to meet so many great kids from all over New Zealand. I love to be outside in summertime and I travel to lots of thoroughbred race days. I hope to see you there!
Favourite Food: Carrots and Apples
Best School Subject: Spelling
Hobbies: Having running races with my neighbours, swimming in the river and growing carrots to eat.
Favourite Saying: It's kind of fun to do the impossible (Walt Disney)
Welcome to Kids Go Racing! This is a fun place where you can learn lots of new things about horses.
Competitions
Click the links below to see the winners and highly commended colouring competitions. Well done to all of you on your beautiful pictures.
Winners(Under 7)
Nina - 6 years old
Alicia - 4 years old
Helena - 6 years old
Highly Commended(Under 7)
Jake - 6 years old
Chloe - 6 years old
Emma - 6 years old
Winners(7 and Over)
Tallulah - 10 years old
Ellie - 11 years old
Madeleine - 13 years old
Highly Commended(7 and Over)
Elizabeth - 9 years old
Leaha - 8 years old
Mason - 11 years old
Competitions
Here are the six winners of the Kids Go Racing Colouring Competition.
Are you 7 years old or under?
Do you LOVE horses?
This Month’s Fun Fact
Horses are able to sleep while they are standing up or lying down!
Try this fun quiz to learn about horses:
1) Which of these are names for male/boy horses? (Clue: There are two.)
A. Mare
B. Stallion
C. Filly
D. Colt
2) True or false: Male/boy horses have more teeth than female/girl horses.
A. True
B. False
3) How can you tell how old a horse is?
A. By asking the horse!
B. By looking at the horse's teeth
C. By looking at the horse's feet
4) What day of the year is a horse's birthday?
A. 1 January
B. 30 April
C. 1 August
D. 3 September
5) True or False: A pony is a baby horse.
A. True
B. False
How did you do? Take a look further down the page to see the answers. (Don't cheat though!)
Answers: 1 (B & D), 2 (A), 3 (B), 4 (C), 5 (B).
Connect the dots to complete your picture of Stirrup!
Hopples Loves Carrots
Stirrup loves to grow carrots to eat. You can learn how to grow carrots too this summer.
As well as being good for you and tasty to eat, carrots are also really fun to grow. If you would like to grow some of your own carrots, here is ten steps to follow which will help you grow lots of carrots!
Instructions
Preparing the Garden
1 Determine the amount of garden space needed for the number of carrots you plan to grow. Carrot seeds are spaced about 8 centimeters apart.
2 Make sure there are no large lumps of soil, rocks or weeds in your garden.
3 Dig a line approximately two centimeters deep. This is where you can plant your carrots.
Planting the Carrot Seeds
4 Place two or three carrot seeds every 8 centimeters across the line that you dug.
5 Cover the carrot seeds with a thin layer of soil approximately 1 centimeter deep.
6 Water the carrot seeds generously as soon as you have planted them. Keep watering the carrots every two days until the seedlings appear (you will see the leaves above the ground)
Caring for the Carrots
7 Weeding the soil around the carrots regularly removes any competition for nutrients and growth.
8Using a rake gently on the soil around the carrot seeds once a week keeps the soil loose. Do not use your rake directly on top of the seeds.
9 Water the seedlings three or four times a week, being careful to avoid overwatering, which rots the roots.
10 Harvest the carrots by pulling them out of the ground when the root heads are about 2 centimeters in diameter. This happens between two and three months after planting.
Good luck and have fun!
Horse Breeds
There are over 350 different breeds of horses. Take a look at some different breeds.
Which one is your favourite?
Want to learn more about horses? Are you over 7 years old?
This Month’s Fun Fact:
Like kids, horses can be fussy eaters! Their good sense of taste allows them to sort through their food and choose what they want to eat.
Test your horse know-how with this month's quiz:
1) How many bones does a horse have in its body?
A. 185
B. 300
C. 205
D. 256
2) Horses are plant eaters. This makes them a:
A. Carnivore
B. Herbivore
C. Omnivore
3) True or false: Out of all the earth's land animals, the horse has the biggest eyes.
A. True
B. False
4) Harness racing started in ancient Greece, where it was known as _____ racing.
A. Emperor
B. Roman
C. Byzantine
D. Chariot
5) The smallest horse in the world is called Einstein. How tall is he?
A. 10 inches
B. 14 inches
C. 22 inches
D. 17 inches
How did you do? Take a look further down the page to see the answers. (Don't cheat though!)
Answers: 1 (C), 2 (B), 3 (A), 4 (D), 5 (B).
Help Stirrup reach his mate Hopples!
Horsey talk.
You’ve probably already heard horses talking to each other.
Here Hopples tells you what they're saying!
Play the Horse Name Game
Use the initials of your first and last name to make a great horse name!
Cool Downloads
Check back soon for colouring competitions and other cool downloads.
Spot the Difference
Crossword
Cool Downloads
Fun activities, wallpapers, and other cool stuff for your computer.
Horses to look for
Check back soon. Hopples and Stirrup have some friends who will be racing through out the summer.
On this page you will be able to learn more about their friends and the jockeys and drivers they race with.
Horses to look for
Learn about some awesome horses, jockeys and drivers!
Other Cool Sites
Here are some other website that Hopples and Stirrup recommend.
Other cool sites
Take a look at these websites to learn even more.
The page you are looking for could not be found.
Please use the links below to help you…
- Click here to go to the Home page
- Click here to go to the Contact Us
