Horses

Now the world's most well known horse, the Thoroughbred Horse was created in England to satisfy the thirst of Royalty for faster and faster racing horses. Mares indigenous to the UK, were bred with imported quality Arabian stallions to create a horse that would combine the conformational qualities of both horses to create a horse with a lighter frame than the English mares, but with their longer neck and larger muscle mass than the Arab.

The term Thoroughbred was first coined in 1821, in the 2nd volume of the General Stud book, the home to the genealogical records for the UK developed thoroughbreds.?

The fastest of horse breeds over distances greater than a quarter mile(400m) and up to and perhaps beyond 2miles(3200m), a racing industry spanning the world as developed worldwide over the previous 200 years.? Throughbred racing is still referred to as the sport of Kings, due to the breed's history, a racing creation made for royalty.? Though royalty and the wealthy are still heavily involved, this has not resulted in thoroughbred racing also becoming the sport of the common man.? Anyone can buy into a syndicate and own part of a thoroughbred racehorse, or wager a dollar on a horse in any number of races held daily throughout the world.

As the racing industry strives to breed faster and faster thoroughbreds, this has had a flow on effect in the improvement of other breeds, as they have been bred with a variety or warm, and cold blood horses to add speed and improved conformation to those breeds already blessed with strength, endurance or jumping ability.? The thoroughbred is a genetically dominant horse so it is a wonderful breed for use in horse improvement. They usually pass their offspring, improved conformation and movement, greater height and muscle mass on a lighter frame, more speed, bravery and mental toughness.

History of the Thoroughbred
In looking at the history of the development of the Thoroughbred Horse breed, it is the importation of three eastern horses that stand out.

• The Byerley Turk
• The Darley Arabian
• The Godolphin Arabian

These three stallions are accepted as the foundation sires of the thoroughbred breed as the breed went from experiment to reality in the early 18th century.? it should be noted that this really is the start of the modern breed, and does not give much credit to England's already well established base stock of racing horses owned and bred by royalty. ??England already had fast horses in their native stock from as far back as the 13th century which they were improving with eastern horse blood, and without this head start, the stallions above would not have become a part of horse breed development history

In the 16th century the royal Paddocks at Hampton Court were founded by Kind Henry VIII, with the founding stallions being sires from Europe(Spain and Italy) influenced by the Barb Horse. These sires were bred with the swift running, but conformationally limited and small mares of England, likely these mares were Galloways or part Galloway.? Other breeds such as the Irish Hobby, the Barb and the Turk were also used in the creation of the Thorughbred.

Later monarchs would go on to maintain this strong interested in breeding "running horses"? at the royal studs, a century of Henry VIII, Charles II is also seen as one of the important royals who was stead bent on creating a new breed of racing horse.

Characteristics of the Thoroughbred Horse
Height can vary greatly, from as small as 1.45m(14.2hh) to 1.75m(17.2hh).? They can be any solid color including grey though most common color is Bay though many different version of Bay are seen including light, Red, and Dark. Head is refined on a long neck with sloping shoulders, a deep body with muscular hindquarters and fine boned long legs.? Temperament is spirited and bold, the Thoroughbred horse is truly a "hot blooded"? horse.

Thoroughbred Health Issues
As the driving force behind the breeding of Thoroughbreds is speed "?? an exceptionally fast stallion or mare would be used in breeding, even where in other breeds it may not be due to physical problems that effected its wellbeing.

For example, many racehorses have poorly formed hooves(Editor, I grew up with racehorses in my back yard, I remember one young stallion was described by the farrier as a "$5million dollar horse with $2 feet"?.? His hooves literally disintegrated to the point they could not be shod and he was put out to pasture for 9 months) with weak cartilage.?

Their hearts may be too small for their muscle mass, and many are prone to bleeding from the lungs when placed under high stress- something that invariably happens with every race horse as they are pushed to their limits to win.

Racing also leads to leg injuries which in many cases is fatal to the horses much to the chagrin of animal rights enthusiasts.? The opposing view is that the high value of race horses has led to the development of treatments for equine illness and injury that can now be applied to other breeds, treatment that has only been created to meet the needs of a racing industry