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Homer Safferwiffle said:

> > ...The TB comes from the Darley Arabian, the Byerly? Turk and the
Godolphin Barb....The TB and Running QH blood in your Appy would be
looked upon as an asset by many, if not most people. Many would prefer
the TB/QH blood over the Appy blood.
HS<<

There is so much in his post about thoroughbreds, their history, and
their breeding that is so inaccurate as to almost be absurd.  Clearly he
knows virtually nothing about Thoroughbreds and everything in the post
(except for this statement "TB x Arabian crosses are called Anglo
Arabians and many of them have done well on the endurance trail in the
past.") should be discounted entirely. :)

Since this is not a list about Thoroughbreds and to point out where he
was wrong and just how wrong he was would stray significantly from what
this list IS about and would require long descriptions about the history
of the breed (which few people are likely to be interested in), how they
are used today (in just about every equine sport, including endurance),
so I am not going to go into it here.  People who are really interested
in the details about Thoroughbreds can e-mail me privately and I can
bore them to tears :).

Suffice it to say, thoroughbreds are not, in any sense, purebred
arabians, the Byerly Turk and the Godolphin Barb/Arabian??? (since he is
sometimes refered to as that) have not been removed from the pedigrees
of TB's today, and since these three horses are all stallions, OBVIOUSLY
they cannot be the only horses in a thoroughbred's pedigree :).
According to the May 1991 Scientific American article, "The Genetics of
Thoughbred Horses" 14.6% of the genes in the present population of TB
come from the Godlophin Arabian (that's how the article refers to the
horse--however, ask any Akhal Teke afficianado and they will insist that
the Godolphin horse was an Akhal Teke:)) who is the most prominent, but
also 3.1% of the genes come from Old Bald Peg...a mare.  50% of the
genes HAVE to come from mares, few of which, if the anecdotal stories
from the 17th and 18th centuries are even partially true, were of
Arabian descent.

That said, in response to the original poster's question, horses of
thoroughbred ancestry excel in every horse sport today; however, most
(not all--and obviously not in the sport of flat track racing) of these
horses are TB crosses of some sort and not "purebred" thoroughbreds.

The biggest reason being (I contend) that purebred thoroughbreds are of
such a disposition as to not easily be handled by amateurs.  Even today,
very few breeders of fullblooded thoroughbreds are breeding for the
amateur market (almost all of them are bred for the track, and if not
bred specifically for the track themselves, they come from immediate
parents that were bred for the track who come from stock that has for
centuries been bred specifically for the track), nor, I might add, have
they been selected for their willingness to be led. :)

In my "retraining problem horses" practice, I have had the opportunity
to encounter many a thoroughbred that is a problem for its owner.  I
have had the opportunity to encounter many an arabian of this
description too.  However, with the arabians, though they can be flighty
if roughly handled and difficult if they are afraid, generally speaking
I can work with the horse and the owner to help them to develop a
relationship of trust and the two will go happily on their way.

Almost invariably with a problem thoroughbred, the owner eventually
decides that they have neither the expertise, fortitude, nor death wish
to work through the problems with their thoroughbred :).  And not only
that, they also decide that thoroughbreds as a breed just aren't for
them.

I used to try to discourage people from this decision (since,
personally, I LOVE thoroughbreds and wish that everybody could learn to
appreciate them the way that I do, because, quite frankly and obviously
I am showing my bias here, I am of the opinion that the thoroughbred is
THE most athletic horse on the face of the planet :)); however,
experience has taught me that, indeed, few thoroughbreds have the
appropriate disposition for most amateur owners (note, here that I do
not say all:)) and I no longer try to talk these people out of their
decision. :(

I have, however, also found that this rather difficult disposition is
fairly easy to breed away from if you just cross the thoroughbred
with....well just about any other breed :).  So, if you ask me, you can
do no better than a thoroughbred cross (of which the Anglo Arabian is my
personal favorite), and since quarter horses ARE known for their
tractible dispositions, TB/QH crosses also make wonderful and manageable
athletes.  I wouldn't steer away from a horse with that breeding just
because of its breeding.

All this, of course, begs the question entirely, of the traits of the
individual horse.  There may be plenty about this horse to disqualify it
as an endurance candidate, the fact that it has running quarterhorses in
its pedigree is not one of them. :)

kat
Orange County, Calif.



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