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
Purebreds are " cultivated varieties" of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be "pedigreed". Purebreds breed true-to-type which means the ...
horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered "
hot-blooded" horses that are known for their agility, speed, and spirit.
The Thoroughbred, as it is known today, was developed in 17th- and 18th-century England, when native
mare
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...
s were
crossbred
A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...
with imported Oriental
stallions
A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated).
Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" neck ...
of
Arabian,
Barb
Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to:
People
* Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves
* The Barbs, a band
Places
* Barb, ...
, and
Turkoman breeding. All modern Thoroughbreds can trace their pedigrees to three stallions originally imported into England in the 17th and 18th centuries, and to a larger number of
foundation
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
mares of mostly English breeding. During the 18th and 19th centuries, 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 19th century. Millions of Thoroughbreds exist today, and around 100,000
foals are 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
crossbred
A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...
to create new breeds or to improve existing ones, and have been influential in the creation of the
Quarter Horse
The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at ...
,
Standardbred
The Standardbred is an American horse breed best known for its ability in harness racing, where members of the breed compete at either a trot or pace. Developed in North America, the Standardbred is recognized worldwide, and the breed can trace i ...
,
Anglo-Arabian
The Anglo-Arabian or Anglo-Arab is a crossbred, part-Arabian horse that now also has its own status as a horse breed. It is the result of a Thoroughbred (hence, the prefix "Anglo") being crossed with an Arabian. The cross can be made betw ...
, and various
warmblood
Warmbloods are a group of middle-weight horse types and breeds primarily originating in Europe and registered with organizations that are characterized by open studbook policy, studbook selection, and the aim of breeding for equestrian spor ...
breeds.
Thoroughbred racehorses perform with maximum exertion, which has resulted in
high accident rates and health problems such as
bleeding from the lungs. Other health concerns include low
fertility
Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...
, 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 on the subject is ongoing.
Breed characteristics
![Rock of Gibraltar - Race Horse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Rock_of_Gibraltar_-_Race_Horse.jpg)
The typical Thoroughbred ranges from high, averaging . They are most often
bay, dark bay or
brown
Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...
,
chestnut,
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
, or
gray
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
.
[Patten ''Light Horse Breeds'' pp. 191–195] Less common colors recognized in the United States include
roan and
palomino.
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
is very rare, but is a recognized color separate from gray.
The face and lower legs may be
marked
In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...
with white,
[Bongianni ''Simon & Schuster's Guide to Horses and Ponies'' section 12] but white will generally not appear on the body. Coat patterns that have more than one color on the body, such as
Pinto
Pinto is a Portuguese language, Portuguese, Spanish language, Spanish, Sephardi Jews, Jewish (Sephardic), and Italian language, Italian surname. It is a high-frequency surname in all List of countries and territories where Portuguese is an officia ...
or
Appaloosa
The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's colo ...
, are not recognized by mainstream breed registries.
[ Good-quality Thoroughbreds have a well-chiseled head on a long neck, high ]withers
The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, it is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, cattle a ...
, a deep chest, a short back, good depth of hindquarters, a lean body, and long legs.[Montgomery ''The Thoroughbred'' pp. 338–354] Thoroughbreds are classified among the "hot-blooded" breeds, which are animals bred for agility and speed and are generally considered spirited and bold.
Thoroughbreds born in the Northern Hemisphere are officially considered a year older on the first of January each year; those born in the Southern Hemisphere officially are one year older on the first of August. These artificial dates have been set to enable the standardization of races and other competitions for horses in certain age groups.[Phifer ''Track Talk'' p. 38]
Terminology
The Thoroughbred is a distinct breed of horse, although people sometimes refer to a purebred
Purebreds are " cultivated varieties" of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be "pedigreed". Purebreds breed true-to-type which means the ...
horse of any breed as a ''thoroughbred''. The term for any horse or other animal derived from a single breed line is ''purebred
Purebreds are " cultivated varieties" of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be "pedigreed". Purebreds breed true-to-type which means the ...
''.[Merriam-Webster ''The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage'' p. 905] While the term probably came into general use because the English Thoroughbred's General Stud Book
The ''General Stud Book'' is a breed registry for horses in Great Britain and Ireland. More specifically it is used to document the breeding of Thoroughbreds and related foundation bloodstock such as the Arabian horse. Today it is published e ...
was one of the first breed registries created, in modern usage horse breeders consider it incorrect to refer to any animal as a ''thoroughbred'' except for horses belonging to the Thoroughbred breed. Nonetheless, breeders of other species of purebred animals may use the two terms interchangeably,[ though ''thoroughbred'' is less often used for describing purebred animals of other species.][ The term is a ]proper noun
A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', '' Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...
referring to this specific breed, though often not capitalized, especially in non-specialist publications, and outside the US. For example, the Australian Stud Book, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', and the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
do not capitalize the word.
, in London. Racing continued at fairs and markets throughout the
. It was then that
, a system of adding weight to attempt to equalize a horse's chances of winning as well as improved training procedures, began to be used. During the reigns of
, the foundation of the Thoroughbred was laid.