Thoroughbreds

Thoroughbreds

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known as a race horse. While carefully bred racehorses had existed throughout Europe for centuries prior to this time, the breed as it is known today developed during the 17th century in England when English mares began to be bred to imported Arabian Stallions. This addition of verifiable Arabian blood coincided with the creation of the General Stud Book of England and the practice of officially registering horses. Today all modern thoroughbreds trace to these imported stallions.

Basic Information:

The typical thoroughbred stands just over 16 hands (64 inches) high and is usually bay (brown to dark brown), chestnut, black or gray. Less common colors are Roan and Palomino. White is very rare, but is a recognized color seperate than gray. The face and lower legs may be marked with white, but white will generally not appear on the body (although certain color genes, possibly the rabicano or sabino genes, result in white hairs and white patches in the coat. The study of equine coat color genetics is quite complex. Good quality thoroughbreds have a well chistled head on a long neck, high withers, a deep chest, a short back, good depth of hindquarters, a lean body, and long legs.

Thoroughbreds are often crossed with horses of other breeds to add speed and refinement. Thoroughbreds are classified among the hot-blooded breeds, animals bred for agility and speed. Generally considered spirited and bold horses.

Unlike most registered horse breeds today, a horse cannot be registered as a thoroughbred (with the Jockey Club Registry) unless it is conceived by "live cover". That is, by the witnessed natural mating of a mare and a stallion. Artificial insemination, though legal and commonly utilized in other horse breeds, cannot be used in Thoroughbreds. Originally this was because blood typing and DNA testing has not yet been developed to a degree adequate to verify parentage. Today the reasons may be more economic: a stallion has a limited number of mares who can be serviced by live cover. Thus, the practice prevents an oversupply of Thoroughbreds to some extent. (Though modern management still allows a stallion to only cover a couple hundred mares a year rather than the couple thousand possible with artificial insemination. It also preserves the high prices paid for horses of the finest or most popular lineages.

Some other notable characteristics of the American Quarter Horse is their speed, versatility, gentle nature, heavy muscling and keen cow sense.

If you own an American Quarter Horse, no matter what discipline you choose to ride, your horse will excel. This breed is one of the most enjoyable horse breeds around today and one of the most popular.

All modern Thoroughbreds carry the genetics of three stallions imported to England from the Middle East in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries : The Darley Arabian, to whom 95% of todays thoroughbred pedigrees trace, the Godolphin Arabian, also known as the Godolphin Barb (Because this horse was born in Morocco, there is some dispute among historians whether this horse is a true Arabian or a Barb. However, based on paintings from life, the stallion was clearly Arabian in type, a Barb is built differently, and the Byerly Turk (who may have been a Turkoman Horse rather than an Arabian), together with around 35 mares. There were also other horses of oriental breeding that have been less of an influence but are still noteworthy. These include the Unknown Arabian, The Helmsley Turk, the Lister Turk, and Darcy's Chestnut.

The first Thoroughbred horse in the American Colonies was Bulle Rock, imported by Samuel Gist of Hanover County, Virginia in 1730.

Maryland and Virginia were the centers of Colonial Thoroughbred breeding.

Although the Thoroughbred is primarily bred for racing, the breed is also used for show jumping and combined training due to their athleticism, and many retired, retrained race horses become fine family riding horses, dressage horses, and youth show horses. The larger horses are sought after for hunter/jumper and dressage competitions, whereas the smaller horses are in demand as polo ponies.