In addition to being one of Bellator’s brightest featherweight prospects, Aaron Pico is an avid lover of horses.

Pico, 21, grew up idolizing Westerns and John Wayne. He wanted to be a bull rider, but his father thought it was too dangerous. Wrestling was his choice.

Even when he grappled his way across the country, Pico (3-1 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) still found a way to ride. He took a job at a stable, cleaning stalls to help pay for riding lessons.

A career in MMA helped Pico fulfill a lifelong dream to own a horse. Despite suffering an upset to Zach Freeman at Bellator 180, Pico went to a stable and bought a horse whose name immediately sold him.

Now, Pico can’t imagine his life without Canelo.

“We’ve got world championships to win, and he’s a big part of that,” said Pico, who on Saturday at Bellator 206 meets recent bantamweight contender Leandro Higo (18-4 MMA, 1-2 BMMA). “It keeps me focused.”

Since Pico is such a horse fanatic, we thought we’d give him a brief quiz on his favorite animal. And just to make things clear, in no way did we pull these questions from a random Google search.

MMAjunkie: How long is the lifespan of a domestic horse?

Pico: Ooh, it all depends. I think probably 25 to 30 years. There’s a horse at the stable that’s 29, so that’s older. But they can live pretty long if they’re on good food and well taken care of. They can live well up to 20-plus years.

MMAjunkie: How many bones do horses have in their skeleton?

Pico: I don’t know that. Over 100?

MMAjunkie: It says 205, which seems pretty random. 

Next question: How fast do horses gallop?

Pico: Well, can’t a race horse go up to 30, 40 miles per hour?

MMAjunkie: This factoid says 27, but the fact that you’re talking about race horses indicates to me that they run a little faster. So we’ll call that one correct, too.

Next question: How long have horses been domesticated?

Pico: That’s a good question. I know they’ve been domesticated a long time. I don’t know the exact date, but I know for many, many years.

MMAjunkie: 5000 years, which is a long time.

Pico: I like these questions.

MMAjunkie: Is there any other way than the obvious way to tell a female horse from a male horse?

Pico: I don’t know that answer.

MMAjunkie: By the number of their teeth – males have 40, and females have 36.

Pico: Wow. No (expletive). That was a good question. Damn. That’s interesting, because there’s some males that look like stallions. I know a horse, she’s a female, and she looks like a stallion. She’s so big.

MMAjunkie: I’m learning a lot, too, to be honest with you. Human hair and fingernails are made from the same protein as this part of a horse’s body.

Pico: Repeat the question again?

MMAjunkie: (Blank) is made from the same protein that comprises human hair and fingernails.

Pico: Horse’s hair?

MMAjunkie: Hooves.

Pico: Dang. I was gonna say that.

For more on Bellator 206, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly seriously, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.