Why They Win Why They Win American Quarter Horse Racing American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum

There are 2 types of Quarter Horses Bulldog Type Racing Type Mostly seen on ranches and in rodeo and cattle working events. It’s known to be short, compact, and with extreme muscling. Looks similar to a heavy muscled Thoroughbred horse. The racing type is known to be longer through his neck and body, taller, and still has a great amount of muscling.

Quarter Racing From The Beginning The History of Quarter Horse Racing began as far back as the 1600’s. English Colonists would match race their horses for entertainment. They would hold these races down the main streets of town. The streets were often a quarter mile or less in length. Match Racing is ran Between two horses to see which horse will complete the race faster.

Early Quarter Horse Racing The settlers began breeding their horses to be sprinters who could start fast and keep their speed for short distances. Eventually, these horses formed a breed known as the Celebrated Quarter of a Mile Race Horse, later changing to American Quarter Horse.

Steel Dust One of the most influential Quarter Horses of the racing type was named Steel Dust. In honor of this incredible horse, many racing type Quarter Horses were originally known as “Steel Dusts.”

“Runs in the Family” Quarter Horse bloodlines have some role in the ability for a horse to be fast. However, it is not the only factor. One well-bred line of racehorses resulted in Hall of Fame Member Dash For Cash.

Pedigree In the horse world, you would call a horse’s “family tree” its “pedigree”. A pedigree starts with a foal and branches to show the sire and mare who produced it. It also branches to show the sire and mare for those horses as well. It looks like this…. “Great Grand-Parents” “Grand Parents” Foal “Parents”

Dash For Cash Dash For Cash’s Pedigree also includes 4 other American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame Members. Breed to be a race horse, he shows speed throughout his pedigree. Dash For Cash Rocket Wrangler Find A Buyer Rocket Bar Go Galla Go To Market Hide And Seek Three Bars Golden Rocket Go Man Go La Galla Win Market Wise Pretty Does Alibhai Scattered Hall of F FF Fame *Sire *Mare Easy Jet Is the 4 th Hall of Fame Member included in this Pedigree. He was the sire of Go man Go

Horses Breathing Horses have a unique way to breathe which helps them to run faster. Horse’s breathe only through their noses and only in synche with their stride.

Horses inhale only when their hooves are extended outward. They exhale when all four hooves come together.

This means a horse with a longer stride has more time to inhale and exhale, this lets them breathe deeper.

A horse’s lungs are about 2 feet wide and 3 feet long. At a full gallop, a horse can take in about 5 gallons of air per second. Quarter Horses take about 78 strides in 22 seconds when running a ¼ mile race. This means in a 22 second time span they will take 78 breaths and take in as much as 1100 gallons of air.

Another factor considered in making a Quarter Horse quick is their overall structure, balance, mental, and physical condition.

Structure Structure, or conformation, is extremely important in race horses. Things which you should look for are: Straight through their front legs 45° angled shoulder Level from Withers to top of the Hindquarters. Shows the rear leg alignment and where it should sit.

Structure Rear legs should be aligned directly underneath the hip. Bones should be “stacked” in a straight line from the hip through the hocks, the ankle, and the hoof. Hip Hock Ankle Hoof

Balance Your race horse should tie together smoothly and show balance. You should be able to divide your horse into three equal parts. The easiest way to do this is by drawing imaginary circles on him in your mind. These circles are shown below:

The circles show the way your horse should be proportioned. However, you also want to check balance by making sure the muscling is smooth and not to bulky for your horse's size and structure.

REMEMBER! A BIG HORSE is not always a GOOD HORSE! Your horse must also be Correct Sound Balanced

As discussed earlier, long strides help racehorses breathe. In order to have a long stride, they must have long and correct legs. If your future race horse is foaled with correct structure, the next step is to keep them sound.

Sound When a horse is sound, they are free from defect, damage, and disease.

Attitude You must also remember that for a horse to run fast and win, they must want to run. The more a horse likes to run, the more likely it is to give it’s all. D. Wayne Lukas, Hall of Fame Member and well-known horse trainer, said “My job as a trainer is to keep horses happy.”

Race Horse Trainers Training a Quarter Race Horse is extremely important. Taking your horse to a trainer teaches it certain disciplines and techniques which will help it succeed.

Training Some steps a trainer may take to prepare a race horse are: Walking- Lowest Workout- Lead with no rider. Ponying- Horse is lead at faster pace with no rider and a mounted lead. Gallop- Horse doesn’t work up much sweat. Breeze- Almost Racing speed with no push from rider. Working- Highest level workout- Full blown race speed.

Jockeys Your jockey is also an important factor to your race horse. A jockey is a person who rides race horses. Most jockey’s are required to maintain a specific weight depending on the horses and races they ride. This keeps the race between the horses fair.

Quarter Horse Racing Review Using the information which you just learned… What are the most important factors to the speed of an American Quarter Horse? Pedigree Breathing and stride Structure/Balance Soundness Health Attitude Training Jockey

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