American Quarter Horse
Modified: 30-11--0001 00:00:00
The American Quarter Horse, was first bred very early in the 17th century, in Virginia and the other settlements on the US East Coast. A highly distinctive horse, it is the oldest all-American breed. (Although the Morgan Horse, is the oldest documented American breed. The Morgan Horse and Register was first published in 1894, whereas the American Quarter Horse Association was not formed until 1940-41.
ORIGINS
The early US settlers inherited the horses that had been introduced by the Spanish explorers. By that time, the stock was a mixture of Spanish horses (Andalucian in modern parlance the Barb; and the Arab which had been established on the Iberian Peninsula during the long Islamic occupation These horses represented a base stock of very great potential, and when they were crossed with horses imported from England they laid the foundation for the uniquely built American Quarter Horse.
The first significant importation of English horses to Virginia was a cargo of 17 stallions and mares, which arrived in 1611. These horses were of the native "running horse" stock that provided the base element for the English Thoroughbred which did not evolve until the 17th century. It has been suggested that these running horses would have had strong connections with the now extinct Galloways, the swift ponies that were raised in northern Britain between Nithsdale and the Mull of Galloway and also with the Irish Hobby, a breed of pony found in Connemara in the west of Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Quarter Horse evolved from this amalgam of bloods as a compact, chunky horse standing about 1.52 m (15 hh) high, with massive and enormously muscled quarters. The American authority, David P. Willoughby, likens the Quarter Horse to "a strongly-built sprinter standing between a slender distance runner and a powerfully-muscled shot-putter or weight-lifter".
WORKING AND RACING
These horses were used for many purposes, including work on the farm; rounding up cattle; hauling goods and lumber; drawing the carriage on Sundays; and being ridden. They were also frugal horses, demanding little in the way of food.
Versatile though it was, the most prized characteristic of this horse, created by the sport-loving English settlers, was the ability to sprint over short distances from an explosive standing start. The horses were raced over half-kilometer (quarter-mile) stretches cut through the scrub, over similar distances on paths among the plantations, Or even in the village street. For this reason the horse became known as the "Quarter Horse" or "quarter-miler".
The power and muscular conformation of the Quarter Horse were ideally suited to this form of racing. By 1656 Quarter Morse racing in Virginia was established and popular, and the breed was becoming recognized as the supreme short-distance racer. Later, when the Thoroughbred was introduced to the US, oval tracks were constructed and distance racing was introduced. As a result, the popularity of the quarter-mile sprints declined and within a short time these races were abandoned in the eastern states. (However, Quarter Horse racing is once again a popular sport in the US.) The Quarter Horse then shifted to the west, where its speed, balance, and agility made it the perfect cow pony. It moved at such high speed that people said that it could "turn on a dime and toss you back nine cents change" from a flat-out gallop.
The breed excels as a trail-riding mount, and also in the traditional rodeo classes. Recently there has been an incredible revival in Quarter Horse racing, with prize-money often exceeding that available in Thoroughbred racing. As a result, the Quarter Horse seems to have gained more Thoroughbred blood and lost some of the old "bulldog" character. The Quarter Horse register, the largest in the world, now has an entry of millions.
QUARTER HORSE FAMILIES
There are 12 principal Quarter Horse families, at the root of which are the breed's two most notable foundation sires - Janus and Sir Archy. Janus, an imported English horse who died in 1780, was responsible, through his son of the same name, for the great Printer line, which is one of the most influential. Sir Archy, the son of the first English Derby winner, Diomed, was also concerned with the beginnings of the American Saddlebred The Shiloh, Old Billy, Steel Dust, and Cold Deck families trace to him, and two of the best and most influential of the 20th-century sires, Joe Bailey and Peter McCue, are his descendants.
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