Steel Dust was one of the founding sires of the

American 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 ...

. Very little is verifiable about his history and there is much conjecture and disagreement amongst sources.

Life

Steel Dust was foaled about 1843 in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

or possibly

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. It is believed that he was taken to Texas in 1845 by Middleton Perry, where he was used as a utility and working cow horse, and was run in

match race A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head. In sailboat racing it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consis ...

s. Steel Dust won his most important race, held in

Collin County, Texas Collin County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Dallas- Fort Worth- Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and a small portion of the city of Dallas is in the county. At the 2020 United States census, the county's popu ...

, as a three-year-old against a horse named Monmouth. Steel Dust was later said to have been retired due to injury. Steel Dust was a

blood bay Bay is a hair coat color of horses, characterized by a reddish-brown or brown body color with a black point coloration on the mane, tail, ear edges, and lower legs. Bay is one of the most common coat colors in many horse breeds. The black a ...

standing nearly and weighing . He died at the age of 32.TSHA , Quarter Horses
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References

{{short description, Early Quarter Horse stallion American Quarter Horse sires