# Help me solve this puzzle/brain teaser? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 28, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674 "2009-04-28T22:31:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/1 "2009-04-28T22:31:59Z")
Someone posted this [horse and jockey puzzle](http://www.subliminalmessages.com/loans_79.htm) here a couple of years ago. I printed it out at that time and brought it to my grandparents, then they stuck it in a drawer until about an hour ago. I can’t for the life of me remember how to solve it. Can someone please help me solve this before gramma and her neighbor kid kill me? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![shecrab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@shecrab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shecrab)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/2 "2009-04-28T22:34:10Z")
Push the two outside pieces together and lay the middle piece turned 90 degrees on top of them. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/3 "2009-04-28T22:41:31Z")
YAY NO DEATH!!! Thanks, **shecrab**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/4 "2009-04-28T23:46:43Z")
You mean to solve the puzzle one of the horse pieces has to be placed almost completely covering the other horse? ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/5 "2009-04-29T00:36:38Z")
Like [this](http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2205/horsepuzzle.png)? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/6 "2009-04-29T00:38:33Z")
I don’t get it. This puzzle seems either trivially easy or totally impossible. We need better definition. ---
**Author:** ![Omphaloskeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/7 "2009-04-29T03:07:03Z")
This is an old Sam Loyd puzzle. The classic trick solution is [something like this](http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/7929/loydhorses.png). ---
**Author:** ![Drygon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@Drygon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drygon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/8 "2009-04-29T15:24:14Z")
I found a nice online flash solution: [http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/jbhorses.htm](http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/jbhorses.htm) Hope that helps! ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/9 "2009-04-29T16:18:06Z")
The previous two post look like the correct answer but the puzzle as printed in the OP is misleading since the borders of the images aren’t close enough to the horses/riders to make the same final picture. ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/10 "2009-04-29T16:44:03Z")
Of course, some might argue that the animals in the first set of pictures are not horses, but look more like donkeys or mules. Trick question? (Ignoring the other solutions previously posted, of course) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/11 "2009-04-29T18:30:46Z")
Hampshire is right. I printed out the puzzle pieces from the page mentioned in the OP, expecting the answer to be as shown in Omphaloskeptic or Drygon’s post, but you can’t use that solution with the pieces I’ve printed out. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/12 "2009-04-29T19:15:40Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > Hampshire is right. I printed out the puzzle pieces from the page mentioned in the OP, expecting the answer to be as shown in Omphaloskeptic or Drygon’s post, but you can’t use that solution with the pieces I’ve printed out. Let me rephrase that. You can do it with those pieces, but the rectangle around the riders is a little too wide and covers part of the horses so it’s a little hard to see. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-solve-this-puzzle-brain-teaser/494674/13 "2009-05-01T07:08:27Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > Let me rephrase that. You can do it with those pieces, but the rectangle around the riders is a little too wide and covers part of the horses so it’s a little hard to see. Yeah, the version I have has no side border at all around the jockeys. I can see how the link I posted would be confusing.