Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred meaning can be defined as the horse breed, these horse breeds are specially bred to race. The history of these thoroughbred horses dates back to the third century in England. The breed gained popularity in England, although they gained popularity in England, the original breed of the horse is dated back to the stock of Arab and Barb horses. The horses have exceptional quality in jumping and running, making them a popular horse race breed. This article focuses on the general physical description of the horse, breed characteristics, history in a different nation, commercial value, and their uses.

What is a Thoroughbred Horse?

These are the breed of horses that are specifically to perform in race and jumping competitions. Thoroughbred horses are defined as the pure breed of horses, the name thoroughbred was technically used to define this purity of the breed. These horses are termed hot-blooded horses, the reason behind this is their agile nature. They have exceptional speed and spirit. The parent breed of these horses is traced back to three original and ancient breeds of horses, the parent breed for the thoroughbred horse can be one of the following, the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian, and the Byerly Turk. All these three mentioned breeds of horses originally belonged to the Middle Eastern countries. They were then bred with the native English horses to produce the breed of thoroughbred horses.  Although the thoroughbred breed can be mated with other breeds of horses, the pure thoroughbred horses are generally more preferred for commercial purposes.

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Physical Characteristics of Thoroughbred Horses

These breeds of horses were selectively bred to produce a group of horses that have exceptional agility, strength, and spirit. Since they are primarily used as racing horse breeds they have very high speed. The Thoroughbreds breed is seen to have a delicate head, short backs. The characteristic features of the horse breed include a slim body structure and a broad chest structure. The colour of the breed ranges between different shades of black and brown. The most common colour the horse breeds are available includes bay, chestnut, brown, black, or gray.  A common question regarding the physical feature of the horse is how tall are thoroughbreds? The h 62 to 68 inches height of the horse breed can range up to  15.2 to 17.0 hands, which approximately when converted into inches range from, which is about 157 to 173 cm high. 

There are white straps on the legs of the horse, it is important to note that the horse does not possess the white straps on the body, which is the significant morphological marker that is used in the identification of the breed. The face of the horse can also sometimes contain these white straps but never on the body. The coat of the horse can have varying colours. The good-quality thoroughbred horses have characteristic features like, a well-chiselled head on a long neck, high withers, they are also animals that have a broad and deep chest, they have a good depth of hindquarters. The long legs and the slim body are specifically evolved to provide the speed and agility required during race and jumping.

Breeding of Thoroughbred Stallion

Although the traditional thoroughbred meaning refers to pyre bred. The thoroughbred horses are descended from the middle eastern horse breed, which was mated with the native English horse breed. The three original parents of the thoroughbred horses that are now popular over all the nations are  Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian, and the Byerly Turk. These were brought by Britain's royal family. The British royal that first brought the middle eastern horse to England was James I and Charles I, they brought over 43 mares, the names of these mares are called Royal Mares, and were imported into England. These were registered under the book called General Stud Book. 

There is the presence of thoroughbreds that had the only parents that belong to thoroughbred horse groups. The horses that share only one parent that belong to thoroughbreds are termed as the Grade Thoroughbred. The Grade Thoroughbred can have the second parent belonging to the native horse breeds of Britain or simply any other breed of the horse. The Grade Thoroughbred are used as hunters, they are also used as horses of a polo game. Because the parent is from different breeds they do not have the same agility and body structure as thoroughbred horses. The Grade Thoroughbred lacks expressive eyes, exceptionally long sloping shoulders, and lacks extraordinary small-sized hoofed feet.

History of the Thoroughbreds in Britain

These thoroughbred stallions were first brought into western civilization during the third century by the British royals. Although the history dates back to the 3rd century, the popularization and commercial use of the horse breed began only in the late 17th century, the proper commercial use was at its peak during the 18 century, following that these thoroughbred stallions are still very popular and are of high value in the commercial racing groups. The recorded history documents the first import of these horse breeds from Middle Eastern countries. 

History of Early Racing

A form of racing known as flat racing is documented to exist at least during 1174, in England. Racing was then popularized in public space and events such as markets and fairs. The reign of James I of England laid the foundation and popularization of horse racing, during his reign the proper training facilities and health management of horses were introduced. Later during the reign of monarchs like Charles II, William III, Anne, and George I, the foundation of the thoroughbred stallion was laid and strengthened. The term thoroughbred was first recorded in history in the 17th century, to be precise during 1713. 

Under the reign of Charles II, the breeders of such horses were provided with financial aid and platform by the royals. It was during 1727 that the first newspaper devoted to racing was founded. The name of the newspaper was the Racing Calendar.

Foundation Stallion

It is clear that the three major breeds that served as the foundation by serving parent breeds included, Byerley Turk (1680s), the Darley Arabian (1704), and the Godolphin Arabian (1729). But apart from these major stallions, there were some other thoroughbred stallions that served important breeding purposes (selective breeding) and helped in the generation of thoroughbred horses in Britain. During the internal relation diplomacy, the first thoroughbred stallion was introduced to other countries in the western civilization, the horse breed was then introduced to the United States of America. 

The important stallions that were involved in the selective breeding process included Alcock's Arabian D'Arcy's White Turk, Leedes Arabian, and Curwen's Bay Barb. Yet another example of such a horse is Brownlow Turk, This horse breed (Brownlow Turk,) is responsible for the coat colour of the thoroughbred horses. The Brownlow Turk horse breed is specifically responsible for the generation of the gray colour variants of the hose breed of thoroughbred horses. The horse that belonged to Oriental breeds was also used in the formation of thoroughbred horses, it is documented that about 160 horses of the oriental breed were used for the selective breeding process to generate the oriental breed of the horse. 

The General Stud Book was created during this time to record the breeds of horses used to create the thoroughbred horse book. The General Stud Book can be defined as the inventory of breeds found in Britain and Ireland, specifically dedicated to the breeds used to create the thoroughbred horses. Although the stallions were brought from middle eastern countries like Arabian, Barb, or Turk, they were mated with the mare of native breeds of Britain. The pedigree analysis has revealed that the thoroughbred horses that are alive today have descended from more than 20 about 27 of the Arabian horse breeds from the 18th and 19th centuries. The pedigree analysis has also shown the percentage relatedness of the modern thoroughbred to the ancestral breeds and it was found that the  Darley Arabian have (6.5%) crosses when all lines of descent (maternal and paternal) are considered. 

Reproduction in Thoroughbred

Since all the horses belong to the mammalian lineage irrespective of their breed, the mare gives birth to the young ones. Generally, the onset of sexual characteristics is seen during 12 months to 18 months after birth. But the age of sexual maturity varies in different horse breeds, in the thoroughbred horse the sexual maturity is gained at the age of three years. The fecundity of the thoroughbred horses is very long, it lasts till the age of 20 to 22 years. The fecundity can be described as the potential of the organism to produce offspring or the number of potential progeny an animal can produce during its complete life cycle.

Similar to other horse breeds, thoroughbreds are seasonal breeders, the breeding season of these horses starts from September. The mare generally produces one offspring during a year, the offspring is called foul. It is a rare event that twins or triplets are born to the mare.  The gestation period followed by fertilization in the mare is about 11 months, the gestation period can range till 280 days. For the survival of the foul, the minimum period of gestation is 280 days, parturition before this time can cause neonatal mortality or severe diseases. It can also result in improper development of the foul. The parental care in these breeds is very high. The young foul is weaned at about 6 months. Weaning can be defined as a process where the young progeny is subject to a solid diet and is stopped from feeding mother breast milk.

The Lifespan of Thoroughbred

The life span of the horse can range from 30 to 35 years. The life span of the breed greatly depends on the early developmental years and the training. There are records of the thoroughbred stallions that lived up to 60 years. One of the recorded documents suggests the lifespan of a thoroughbred mare chests out 44 years of age.

Diet

thoroughbred meaning can be defined as the true or purebred, like all the breeds of horses these breeds are mainly acclimated to feed on grasses. But there are some specific requirements of the horse breed to ensure their better development and performance in the gaming fields. The diet of the thoroughbred horses includes grass, the main constituent of their diet includes grasses that are rich in fibre and oats. The horse is fed three to four times a day but it is important to note that horses are not fed just after work to avoid digestive problems. Crushed barley is the substitute for oats. They are generally fed to the horses that are old and have worn out teeth. The traditional hay is timothy, which is grown in the Northwest. Often a flake or two of good quality alfalfa hay is also added daily to the haynet.  Bread, carrots, and sugar are other important constituents of the diet of the thoroughbred breed of horses. It is often seen that medications are crushed and mixed with the mash, the mash is bran mixed with water.

Health Issues

The major health issues are due to selective breeding, excessive stress, and genetic disorders. Thoroughbred horses are subjected to various contagious diseases, influenza, strangles, glanders, equine encephalomyelitis, and equine infectious anaemia. These animals are also subjected to skin infection due to infection of certain ectoparasites like mites, ticks, and lice. The horse that has sensitive skin is also prone to diseases like eczemas and abscesses. 

The horse is also subject to chronic indigestion during the hot weather, the main reason behind this is the ingestion of spoiled or bacterial infested food. The horse breed is also subjected to intestinal infection due to larvae of the botfly infestation in the large intestine. The infection of parasites like pinworms, tapeworms, and roundworms (ascarids) are also very common in the horse breed. Since these horses are primarily bred to perform in the race, overwork is a common issue faced in these breeds; they are subjected to diseases like pneumonia and rheumatism.

Selective breeding is also thought to be one of the root causes of genetic ailment. According to one of the researchers, selective breeding has led to low genotypic variation thus making them more susceptible to diseases. Selective breeding has increased the speed of the horse but the anatomy of the breed is not suitable for such high speeds. Thus various scientists acknowledge the potential threat of selective breeding and suggest the natural breeding process to restore the genetic balance.

Price

The average price of the thoroughbred horse is up to seven lacs in Indian Rupees, the price of the horse varies according to the health conditions. The younger members of the breed are often sold at higher prices compared to the older horses. The grade thoroughbred is often sold at lower prices than the thoroughbred that has both parents belonging to the same breed.

Conclusion

Thoroughbred horses are mainly bred to perform in the race and other sports. The widely accepted thoroughbred meaning is “pure breed”. The ancestors of these breeds belong to middle eastern countries. A common question that arises is are thoroughbreds good horses? The answer to this question is complicated, although these breeds of horses have exceptional agility and speed recent studies have shown due to increased selective breeding they have low genetic variability. Due to this, they are prone to many genetic disorders and diseases. Another common question asked is how tall are thoroughbreds? They are about 158 to 173 cm tall which is about  62 to 68 inches tall, they have a slim body and strong muscular structure. They are known for their strength, speed, and agility. The main uses of this breed are seen in games like polo, racing, and hunting.