Everything about Thoroughbreds totally explained
The
Thoroughbred is a
horse breed best known for its use in
horse racing. Although the word "thoroughbred" is sometimes used to refer to any breed of
purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered a "
hot blooded" horse, and are known for their agility, speed and spirit.
The Thoroughbred as it's known today was first developed during the 17th and 18th centuries in
England, when native
mares were
crossbred with imported
Arabian stallions. All modern Thoroughbreds can trace their pedigrees to three stallions originally imported to England in the 1600s and 1700s, and to 74 foundation mares of English and Oriental (Arabian or
Barb) blood. During the 1700s and 1800s, the Thoroughbred breed spread throughout the world; they were imported into
North America starting in 1730 and into
Australia,
Europe,
Japan and
South America during the 1800s. Millions of Thoroughbreds exist worldwide today, with almost 1.3 million in the United States alone and over 118,000 foals registered each year worldwide.
Thoroughbreds are used mainly for racing, but are also bred for other riding disciplines, such as
show jumping,
combined training,
dressage,
polo, and
fox hunting. They are also commonly crossed with other breeds to create new breeds or to improve existing ones, and have been influential in the creation of many important breeds, such as the
Quarter Horse, the
Standardbred, the
Anglo-Arabian, and various
Warmblood breeds.
Although Thoroughbreds are seen in many sport disciplines, they're bred mainly for racing, which has resulted in high rates of accidents and other health problems. Racing has been proven to have a higher fatality rate than all other legal human and animal
sports. Also, Thoroughbreds are prone to other health complications, including bleeding from the lungs, low
fertility, abnormally small hearts and a small hoof to body mass ratio. There are several theories for the reasons behind the prevalence of accidents and health problems in the Thoroughbred breed, and research continues into how to reduce the accident rate and treat those animals that are injured.
Terminology
People sometimes refer to a
purebred horse of any breed as a "thoroughbred". While the term probably came into general use because the English Thoroughbred's
General Stud Book was one of the first
breed registries created, the Thoroughbred is a distinct breed of horse, and in modern usage, horse breeders consider it incorrect to refer to any horse or other animal as a "thoroughbred" except for horses belonging to the Thoroughbred breed.
Breed characteristics
The typical Thoroughbred ranges between 15.2 to 17.0
hands (hh) high, averaging 16 hh or . They are most often
bay, "brown" (dark bay),
chestnut,
black, or
gray. Less common colors include
roan and
palomino.
White is very rare, but is a recognized color separate from gray. The face and lower legs may be
marked with white, but white will generally not appear on the body. Coat patterns that have more than one color on the body, such as
Pinto or
Appaloosa, don't exist in the Thoroughbred. Good quality Thoroughbreds have a well-chiseled 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 classified among the "hot-blooded" breeds, which are animals bred for agility and speed and are generally considered spirited and bold.
Thoroughbreds that are born in the
Northern Hemisphere technically become a year older on
January 1 each year; those born in the
Southern Hemisphere turn one year older on
August 1. These artificial dates have been set to enable the standardization of races and other competitions for horses in certain age groups.
History
Beginnings in England
All modern Thoroughbreds carry the genetics of three stallions imported into
England from the
Middle East in the late 17th and early 18th centuries: the
Byerly Turk (1680s), the
Darley Arabian (1704), and the
Godolphin Arabian (1729). All modern Thoroughbreds trace back to these imported stallions. Others include the D'Arcy's White Turk, Leedes Arabian, and Curwen Bay Barb.
Each of the three major foundation sires was the progenitor of a grandson or great-great-grandson who was, by coincidence, the only male descendant to perpetuate each respective horse's male line.
Matchem, the grandson of the Godolphin Arabian, was the only male descendant of the Godolphin Arabian to maintain a male line to the present. The Byerly Turk's male line was preserved by
Herod (or King Herod), a great-great-grandson. The male line of the Darley Arabian owes its existence to great-great-grandson
Eclipse, who was the dominant racehorse of his day and who was never beaten.
While one genetic study indicates that 95 percent of all male Thoroughbreds trace their direct male line (via the
Y-chromosome) to the Darley Arabian, in actual number of lines of descent in modern Thoroughbreds, most horses have more crosses to the Godolphin Arabian than to the Darley Arabian. As a percentage of contributions to current Thoroughbred bloodlines, another horse, Curwen's Bay Barb, contributed more than the Byerly Turk. The majority of modern Thoroughbreds alive today trace to a total of only 27 or 28 stallions from the 18th and 19th centuries.
The
mares used as foundation stock came from a variety of breeds, some of which, such as the
Irish Hobby, had developed in northern Europe prior to the 13th century. Other mares were of various oriental breeding, including Barb,
Turk and other bloodlines. The 19th century researcher Bruce Lowe identified 50 mare "families" in the Thoroughbred breed, later augmented by other researchers to 74. However, it's probable that fewer genetically unique mare lines existed than Lowe identified.
Selective breeding for speed and racing ability led to improvements in the size of horses and winning times by the middle of the 19th century.
Bay Middleton, a winner of the Epsom Derby, stood over 16 hands high, a full hand higher than the Darley Arabian. Winning times had increased to such a degree that many felt that further improvement by adding additional Arabian bloodlines was impossible. This was borne out in 1885, when a race was held between a Thoroughbred, Iambic, considered a mid-grade runner, and the best Arabian of the time, Asil. The race was over, and although Iambic carried more than Asil, he still managed to beat Asil by 20 lengths. An aspect of the modern British breeding establishment is that they breed not only for flat racing, but also for
steeplechasing, or racing over fences.
Soon after the start of the 20th century, fears that the English races would be overrun with American-bred Thoroughbreds because of the closing of US racetracks in the early 1910s led to the Jersey Act of 1913. It prohibited the registration of any horse in the General Stud Book (GSB) if they couldn't show that every single ancestor traced to the GSB. This excluded most American-bred horses, because the 100 year gap between the founding of the GSB and the American Stud Book meant that most American-bred horses possessed at least one or two crosses to horses not registered in the GSB. The act wasn't repealed until 1949, after which a horse was only required to show that all his ancestors to the ninth generation were registered in a recognized Stud Book. Many felt that the Jersey Act hampered the development of the British Thoroughbred by preventing breeders in the United Kingdom from using new bloodlines developed outside of the British Isles.
In America
The first Thoroughbred horse in the
American Colonies was Bulle Rock, imported in 1730 by Samuel Gist of
Hanover County, Virginia.
Maryland and
Virginia were the centers of Colonial Thoroughbred breeding, along with
South Carolina and
New York. During the
American Revolution importations of horses from England practically stopped but were restarted after the signing of a peace treaty. Two important stallions were imported around the time of the Revolution;
Messenger in 1788 and
Diomed before that. Messenger left little impact on the American Thoroughbred, but is considered a foundation sire of the
Standardbred breed. Diomed, who won the
Derby Stakes in 1780, had a significant impact on American Thoroughbred breeding, mainly through his son
Sir Archy. After the American Revolution, the center of Thoroughbred breeding and racing in the United States moved west. Kentucky and Tennessee became notable centers.
Andrew Jackson, later President of the United States, was a breeder and racer of Thoroughbreds in Tennessee.
Famous match races held in the early 19th century helped popularize horse racing in the United States. One took place in 1823, in Long Island, New York, between Sir Henry and
American Eclipse. Another was a match race between
Boston and
Fashion in 1838 that featured bets of $20,000 from each side. The last major match races before the
American Civil War were both between
Lexington and Lecompte. The first was held in 1854 in
New Orleans and was won by Lecompte. Lexington's owner then challenged Lecompte's owner to a rematch, held in 1855 in New Orleans and won by Lexington. Both of these horses were sons of Boston, himself a descendant of Sir Archy.
After the American Civil War, the emphasis in American racing changed from the older style of four-mile (6 km) races in which the horses ran in at least two heats. The new style of racing involved shorter races not run in heats, over distances from five
furlongs up to . This change meant a change in breeding practices, as well as age that horses were raced, with younger horses and sprinters coming to the fore. It was also after the Civil War that the American Thoroughbred returned to England to race.
Iroquois became the first American-bred winner of the
Epsom Derby in 1881. The success of American-bred Thoroughbreds in England led to the Jersey Act in 1913, which limited the importation of American Thoroughbreds into England. After World War I, the breeders in America continued to emphasize speed and early racing age but also imported horses from England, and this trend continued past World War II. After World War II, Thoroughbred breeding remained centered in Kentucky, but California, New York, and Florida also emerged as important racing and breeding centers.
Thoroughbreds in the United States have historically been used not only for racing but also to improve other breeds. The early import, Messenger, was the foundation of the Standardbred, and Thoroughbred blood was also instrumental in the development of the
American Quarter Horse. The foundation stallion of the
Morgan breed is held by some to have been sired by a Thoroughbred. Between World War I and World War II, the U.S. Army used Thoroughbred stallions as part of their Remount Service, which was designed to improve the stock of
cavalry mounts.
In Europe
Thoroughbreds first arrived in
France in 1817 and 1818 with the importation of a number of stallions from England, but initially the sport of horse racing didn't prosper in France. The first Jockey Club in France wasn't formed until 1833, and in 1834 the racing and regulation functions were split off to a new society, the
Societe d'Encouragement pour l'Amelioration des Races de Chevaux en France. The
French Stud Book was founded at the same time by the government. By 1876, French-bred Thoroughbreds were regularly winning races in England, and in that year a French breeder-owner earned the most money in England on the track.
World War I almost destroyed the French breeders because of war damage and lack of races. After the war, the premier French race, the Grand Prix, resumed and continues to this day. During
World War II, French Thoroughbred breeding didn't suffer as it had during the first World War, and thus was able to compete on an equal footing with other countries after the war.
Organized racing in
Italy started in 1837, when race meets were established in Florence and Naples and a meet in Milan was founded in 1842. Modern flat racing came to Rome in 1868. Later importations, including the
Derby Stakes winners Ellington (1856) and Melton (1885), came to
Italy before the end of the 19th century.
Other countries in Europe have Thoroughbred breeding programs, including Germany, Russia, Poland, and Hungary. However, none of these countries have made a large mark on the breeding of Thoroughbreds. Although many horses of part-Thoroughbred blood were imported into Australia during the late 1700s, it's thought that the first pureblood Thoroughbred was a stallion named Northumberland who was imported from England in 1802 as a
coach horse sire. By 1810, the first formal race meets were organized in
Sydney, and by 1825 the first mare of proven Thoroughbred bloodlines arrived to join the Thoroughbred stallions already there. Thoroughbreds from Australia were imported into New Zealand in the 1840s and 1850s, with the first direct importation from England occurring in 1862.
In Other Areas
Thoroughbreds have been exported to many other areas of the world since the breed was created. Oriental horses were imported into South Africa from the late 1600s in order to improve the local stock through crossbreeding. Horse racing was established there in the late 1700s and early 1800s, and Thoroughbreds were imported in increasing numbers. The first Thoroughbred stallions arrived in
Argentina in 1853, but the first mares didn't arrive until 1865. The Argentine Stud Book was first published in 1893. Thoroughbreds were imported into
Japan from 1895, although it wasn't until after the Second World War that Japan began a serious breeding and racing business involving Thoroughbreds.
Registration, breeding, and population
There are slightly under 1.3 million Thoroughbreds in the United States today, and about 37,000 Thoroughbred
foals are registered each year in North America, with the largest numbers being registered in the states of Kentucky, Florida and California. Worldwide, there are more than 195,000 active broodmares and 118,000 newly registered foals in 2006 alone. The Thoroughbred industry is a large
agribusiness, generating around $34 billion in revenue annually in the United States and providing about 470,000 jobs through a network of farms, training centers and
race tracks.
Unlike a significant number of registered breeds today, a horse can't be registered as a Thoroughbred (with the
Jockey Club registry) unless conceived by "live cover"; that is, by the witnessed natural mating of a mare and a stallion.
Artificial insemination (AI) and
embryo transfer (ET), though commonly used and allowable in many other horse breed registries, can't be used with Thoroughbreds. One reason is that more possibility of error exists in assigning parentage with AI, and although DNA and blood testing eliminate many of those concerns, AI still requires more detailed record keeping. The main reason, however, may be economic: a stallion has a limited number of mares who can be serviced by live cover. Thus, the practice prevents an oversupply of Thoroughbreds, though modern management still allows a stallion to live cover more mares in a season than once was thought possible. By allowing a stallion to only cover a couple hundred mares a year rather than the couple thousand possible with AI, it also preserves the high prices paid for horses of the finest or most popular lineages.
Concern exists that the
closed stud book and tightly regulated population of the Thoroughbred is at risk of loss of
genetic diversity because of the level of inadvertent
inbreeding inevitable in such a small population. According to one study, 78 percent of
alleles in the current population can be traced to 30 foundation animals, 27 of which are male. Ten foundation mares account for 72 percent of maternal (tail-female) lineages, and, as noted above, one stallion appears in 95 percent of tail male lineages.
Uses
Although the Thoroughbred is primarily bred for
racing, the breed is also used for
show jumping and
combined training because of its athleticism, and many retired and 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.
Horse racing
saddle at the
gallop. Thoroughbreds are often known for being either distance runners or sprinters, and their
conformation usually reflects what they've been bred to do. Sprinters are usually well muscled, while
stayers, or distance runners, tend to be smaller and slimmer. The size of the horse is one consideration for buyers and trainers when choosing a potential racehorse. Although there have been famous racehorses of every height, from
Man o' War and
Secretariat who both stood at 16.2 hands to
Hyperion (15.1), the best racehorses are generally of average size. Larger horses mature more slowly and have more stress on their legs and feet, making them more predisposed to lameness. Smaller horses are considered by some to be at a disadvantage due to their shorter stride and a tendency of other horses to bump them, especially in the starting gate.
Other disciplines
In addition to racing, Thoroughbreds compete in
eventing,
show jumping and
dressage at the highest levels of international competition, including the
Olympics. They are also used as
show hunters,
steeplechasers, and in
western riding speed events such as
barrel racing. They are used in non-competitive work in
mounted police divisions and for recreational riding. Thoroughbreds are one of the most common breeds for use in
polo in the United States. They are often seen in the
fox hunting field as well.
Crossbreeding
Thoroughbreds are often crossed with horses of other breeds to create new breeds or improve existing ones. They have been influential on many modern breeds, including the
American Quarter Horse, the
Standardbred, and possibly the
Morgan, a breed that went on to influence many of the
gaited breeds in North America. Other common crosses with the Thoroughbred include breeding with an Arabian to produce the
Anglo-Arabian as well as with the
Irish Draught to produce the
Irish Sport Horse. Thoroughbreds are often crossed with various
Warmblood breeds due to their refinement and performance capabilities.
Health issues
Although Thoroughbreds are seen in the hunter-jumper world and in other disciplines, modern Thoroughbreds are primarily bred for speed, and racehorses have a very high rate of accidents as well as other health problems.
One tenth of all Thoroughbreds suffer orthopedic problems, including fractures. As a
ratio (of injuries with eventually fatal complications to total competitions), this is far in excess of all other legal human and animal sports, including
boxing, motorsports and
greyhound racing. Thoroughbreds also have other health concerns, including a majority of animals who are prone to bleeding from the lungs (
EIPH), 10 percent with low fertility, and 5 percent with abnormally small hearts. which contributes to foot soreness, the most common source of lameness in racehorses.
Selective breeding
One argument for the health issues involving Thoroughbreds suggests that
inbreeding is the culprit. Thus, goes the theory, the modern Thoroughbred travels faster than its skeletal structure can support. "We have selectively bred for speeds that the anatomy of the horse can't always cope with."
Excess stress
The high accident rate may also occur because Thoroughbreds, particularly in the
United States, are first raced as 2-year-olds, well before they're completely mature. Though they may appear full-grown and are in superb muscular condition, their bones are not fully formed. Studies have shown that track surfaces,
horseshoes with toe grabs, and too intense a racing schedule may also contribute. One of the most promising trends is the development of synthetic surfaces for racetracks. One of the first tracks to install such a surface, Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, saw its rate of fatal breakdowns drop from 24 in 2004–05 to three in the year following Polytrack installation. The material isn't perfected, and some areas report problems related to winter weather, but studies are continuing. but also controversial, due in part to the significant challenges in treating broken bones and other major leg injuries. Leg injuries that are not immediately fatal still may be life-threatening because a horse's weight must be distributed evenly on all four legs to prevent
circulatory problems,
laminitis and other infections. If a horse loses the use of one leg temporarily, there's the risk that other legs will break down during the recovery period because they're carrying an abnormal weight load. While horses periodically lie down for brief periods of time, a horse can't remain lying in the equivalent of a human's "
bed rest" because of the risk of developing sores and internal damage and congestion. On the other hand, advocates of racing argue that without horse racing, far less funding and incentives would be available for medical and biomechanical research on horses. Although horse racing is hazardous, veterinary science has advanced. Previously hopeless cases can now be treated,
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