11 Facts About Thoroughbred

1.

Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing.

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2.

Thoroughbred racehorses perform with maximum exertion, which has resulted in high accident rates and health problems such as bleeding from the lungs.

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3.

Thoroughbred is a distinct breed of horse, although people sometimes refer to a purebred horse of any breed as a thoroughbred.

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4.

Many felt that the Jersey Act hampered the development of the British Thoroughbred by preventing breeders in the United Kingdom from using new bloodlines developed outside the British Isles.

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5.

Messenger left little impact on the American Thoroughbred, but is considered a foundation sire of the Standardbred breed.

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6.

The early import Messenger was the foundation of the Standardbred, and Thoroughbred blood was instrumental in the development of the American Quarter Horse.

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7.

The first Thoroughbred stallions arrived in Argentina in 1853, but the first mares did not arrive until 1865.

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8.

Unlike a significant number of registered breeds today, a horse cannot be registered as a Thoroughbred unless conceived by live cover, the witnessed natural mating of a mare and a stallion.

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9.

Concern exists that the closed stud book and tightly regulated population of the Thoroughbred is at risk of loss of genetic diversity because of the level of inadvertent inbreeding inevitable in such a small population.

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10.

Thoroughbred pedigrees are generally traced through the maternal line, called the distaff line.

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11.

Thoroughbred horses are primarily bred for racing under saddle at the gallop.

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