Quarter Horse Racing
Year 1756, Janus, the grandson of an English Thoroughbred Godolphin Arabian was imported to Virginia. Janus’ unique speed and compact influenced those native Quarter Horses. And because of his good contribution to the development of Quarter horses, Janus became the foundation of “American Quarter Horses” that time.
“World’s Fastest Athlete” is the title given to American Quarter Horses as they are listed as one of the most popular breed in horse racing world. Quarter horse racing started on a straightway course of 440 yards (quarter mile). That’s why they can easily be recognized literally on its name. Aside from that, this racing has very rare turns unlike other horse racing. Having a straight path is really preferred to see their ability and perfect speed in every race. Among other breeds, they are the only one that excels at sprinting short distances or they can be the outstanding horses in any races with quarter mile. Minimum of 100 yards up to 1000 yards in maximum is the range of distance that can be used for this kind of breeds.
Quarter horse racing today is the same as Sprint racing on early days. People literally used the street of Virginia to start the horse racing game. Because they started this without official racing track, they haven’t made an official name for this game as well. Until year 1674 and this horse racing was judged as an illegal horse racing. It can also be said that they have similarity with Thoroughbred racing in terms of their track arrangement, especially racing on a dirt surface. They even has Triple Crown event like in Thoroughbred racing. The only difference is, Quarter horse Triple Crown is restricted only to 2 year old Quarter horses.
Show horse, race horse, rodeo competitor – these are some best words that can describe American quarter horse. They are often used and can compete well on rodeo events like team roping and barrel racing. They are also good enough to be a good jumper and can easily be trained to compete in dressage. Modern Quarter horses might be small and short, but because of their powerful well – muscled body and strong broad chest, a lot of foreigners imported American quarter horses to their country. Some of those are European countries like Germany and Italy.
Even though American Quarter Horses are mostly used to racing or for betting games, they are also a big help to some people or to their known owners. They can be used not only in racing, but also as ranch horse friend and an all around family horse.
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