| American Quarter Horse In the 1600s, colonists on the eastern seaboard of what today is the United States began to cross imported English Thoroughbred horses with assorted "native" horses such as the Chickasaw horse ( MUSTANGS) horses descended from Spain. One of the most famous of these early imports was Janus, a Thoroughbred who was the grandson of the Godolphin Arabian. He was foaled in 1746, and imported to colonial Virginia in 1756. The influence of Thoroughbreds like Janus contributed genes crucial to the development of the colonial "Quarter Miler," or "Quarter Mile Horse." This was a speedy working man's racer, sometimes referred to as the "Celebrated American Quarter Running Horse." The resulting horse was small, hardy, and quick, and was used as a work horse during the week and a race horse on the weekends. As flat racing became popular with the colonists, the Quarter Miler gained even more popularity as a sprinter over courses that, by necessity, were shorter than the classic racecourses of England, and were often no more than a straight stretch of road or flat piece of open land. When matched against a Thoroughbred, local sprinters often won. As the Thoroughbred breed became established in America, many colonial Quarter Mile mares were included in the original American stud books, starting a long association between the Thoroughbred breed and what would later become officially known as the "Quarter Horse," Early foundation sires of Quarter horse type included Steel Dust, foaled 1843; Shiloh (or Old Shiloh), foaled 1844; Old Cold Deck (1862); Lock's Rondo, one of many "Rondo" horses, foaled in 1880; Old Billy—again, one of many "Billy" horses—foaled circa 1880; Traveler, a stallion of unknown breeding, known to have been in Texas by 1889[3]; and Peter McCue, foaled 1895, registered as a Thoroughbred but of disputed pedigree. (NOTE)YOU COULD SAY THESE STALLIONS WERE WELL BRED AND THE BREEDING WAS A SECRET SINCE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT MATCH RACE BREEDERS WITH MONEY TO RACE ..However sprint races were also popular weekend entertainment and racing became a source of economic gain for breeders as well. As a result, more Thoroughbred blood was added back into the developing American Quarter Horse breed. The American Quarter Horse also benefited from the addition of Arabian, Morgan and even Standardbred bloodlines.[citation needed] American Quarter Horse of the ranch horse in the American West was working cattle. Even after the invention of the automobile, horses were still irreplaceable for handling livestock on the range. Quarter Horse dominates the sport both in speed events and in competition that emphasizes the handling of live cattle. (NOTE) I WAS TOLD BY A GREAT GRAND DAD THAT WHEN HE LIVED IN WYOMING BACK IN THE 40's-50's THAT HE COULD WATCH THE MUSTANGS UP IN THE MOUNTAINS AND COULD SEE THEM RUN ELK AND BISON OUT OF GRAZING MEADOWS ,SO I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS WHERE THE ABILITY TO WORK CATTLE STARTED .. ( JUST MY THOUGHT ) Since the American Quarter Horse formally established itself as a breed, the AQHA stud book has remained open to additional Thoroughbred blood via a performance standard. An "Appendix" American Quarter Horse is a first generation cross between a registered Thoroughbred and an American Quarter Horse or a cross between a "numbered" American Quarter Horse and an "appendix" American Quarter Horse. The resulting offspring is registered in the "appendix" of the American Quarter Horse Association's studbook, hence the nickname. Horses listed in the appendix may be entered in competition, but offspring are not initially eligible for full AQHA registration. If the Appendix horse meets certain conformational criteria and is shown or raced successfully in sanctioned AQHA events, the horse can earn its way from the appendix into the permanent studbook, making its offspring eligible for AQHA registration. I thought I should add this to our web site since there is so much false info from single horse owners that just don't do research , but base their info on what they have heard The Quarter Horse is known as the All-American horse and as the world's most versatile horse. Not only is it the most popular breed in the United States, but it is possibly the oldest horse breed in the US. FALSE IF THEY THINK QUARTER HORSES ARE PURE MUSTANG , I GUESS SO .. Named for its amazing speed during a short one quarter mile sprint, the fastest galloping speed by any horse has been achieved by the American Quarter Horse which has been clocked at speeds near 55 mph (88 km/h) in a quarter mile or less. Their immensely powerful hindquarters can propel the horse into a gallop almost from a standing start,FALSE and Quarter Horse racing is becoming more popular. The average Quarter Horse usually lives 20 years, but 35 years is not uncommon when properly cared for. It has been called by many names over the years: American Quarter Horse, Foundation Quarter, Standard Quarter, Racing Quarter, Running Quarter, Quarter Miler, Short Horse and the cowboy's Cutting Horse. THESE ARE ALL DIFFERENT BRED FOR DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES, BECAUSE THERE IS NO WAY OUR LITTLE CUTTING STALLION CAN EVEN STAT TO RUN WITH OUR DASH FOR CASH GRANDSON . Max can trot nearly as fast as Crash , but Crash can out spin and is a lot quicker than Max at 50 feet than Max is . ALL RACING QUARTER HORSES ARE AT LEAST 50% -75% THOROUGHBREDS . While the breed originated in the United States and is now distributed worldwide, its ancestry dates back to the Arabian, Barb and Turk horses that were imported to America by early Spanish explorers,CHECK OUT THIS SENTENCE , WOW DID THEY GET IT WRONG . conquistadors and traders. These were combined into the Chickasaws breed by Native Americans to form one side of the bloodline, with English horses and Thoroughbreds on the other. Morgan and Standardbred horses have also been used in the breed's development. HARD TO BELIEVE THIS .. TOO FUNNY . But it is difficult to give the exact origins because the blending of bloodlines to produce a short-distance horse started in colonial regions prior to the Revolutionary War. The true beginnings are believed to have been in the Carolinas and Virginia but the principle development was in the southwestern part of the United States, in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, eastern Colorado, and Kansas when in the early 1600s, settlers began importing English horses and breeding them to the native Spanish-based Chickaswas stock to create a tough all- purpose horse. WRITTEN BY Philipe Wiskell is a writes for HorseClicks.com, popular horse classifieds of horses for sale that include a lot of Quarter Horses for sale. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Wiskell I'll stop before it get to crazy but this is what some people believe . |