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Thoroughbred breeding first began in England due to the crusaders breeding large, heavy horses for their stamina, hard work and the ability to carry a crusader in all his armour and in the middle east horses which were lighter and agile were being bred for their speed.

A caputured stallion, later known as Byerlye Turk, was brought back to England in the Sixteenth century and used in a breeding programme with English mares. The offspring were known as the Herod thoroughbred line.

They bred and crossbred the decscendants of this and other sires to create an amazing running machine. The thoroughbred horses had excellent lung capacity due to their wide girth, were able to gain ground quickly due to their long shoulders and strong hide legs. They were born to race.

In todays world thoroughbred breeding and racing is a massive business and the country that actually now has the most thoroughbreds is the United States of America. There were approximately 50,000 foals registered last year alone.

All thoroughbred foals have the official birthdate of the 1st January allocated to them even if they were born in June. Their racing career ususally begins at about two years of age but many do not race for long due to injuries. They are then either retired or sold.

Thoroughbred horses are extremely strong willed and highly strung. After they have been retired there are not many other sports that they could compete in and owning one is not always easy either. They have a tendency to just love galloping and this rather limits the type of person who can own one.

Tags: Horses

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