Why They Win American Quarter Horse Racing

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Why They WinAmerican Quarter Horse Racing

• American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame Museum

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There are 2 types of Quarter Horses

• Bulldog Type

• Racing Type

• Mostly seen on ranches and in rodeo and cattle
  working events.
• Its 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.

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Quarter Racing From The Beginning
Match Racing is ran Between two horses to See
which horse will Complete the race faster.

• The History of Quarter Horse Racing began as far
  back as the 1600s.
• 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.

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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 Horses,
  later changing to American Quarter Horses.

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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.

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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.

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Pedigree

• In the horse world you would call a horses
  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.

Grand Parents
Foal
Great Grand-Parents
Parents
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Dash For Cash

• Dash For Cashs Pedigree also includes 4 other
  American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame Members.
• Breed to be a race horse, he shows speed
  throughout his pedigree.

Easy Jet Is the 4th Hall of Fame Member included
in this Pedigree. He was the sire of Go man Go
Three Bars
Rocket Bar
Golden Rocket
Rocket Wrangler
Go Man Go
Go Galla Go
Dash For Cash
La Galla Win
Market Wise
To Market
Pretty Does
Find A Buyer
Hall of Fame Sire Mare
Alibhai
Hide And Seek
Scattered
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Horses Breathing

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

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

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

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• A horses 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.

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

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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.

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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
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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

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• 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.

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REMEMBER!

• A BIG HORSE is
• not always a
• GOOD HORSE!

• Your horse must also be
• Correct
• Sound
• Balanced

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• 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.

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Sound

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

21
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 its all.

D. Wayne Lukas, hall of fame member and
well-known horse trainer, said My job as a
trainer is to keep horses happy.
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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.

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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 doesnt work up much sweat.
• Breeze- Almost Racing speed with no push from
  rider.
• Working- Highest level workout- Full blown race
  speed.

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Jockeys

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

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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
• Healthy
• Attitude
• Training
• Jockey

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References

• www.equiworld.net/UK/HORSECARE/BREEDS/quarterhorse
  /index.htm
• http//www.thefreedictionary.com/sound
• http//horseracing.about.com/library/graphics/tc00
  /riva2.jpg
• http//www.losalamitos.com/laqhr/inc/images/ACF363
  D.jpg
• http//www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/1789rwld.jpg
• http//www.history.org/history/teaching/enewslette
  r/volume4/images/quarterrace_small.jpg
• http//www.american-quarter-horses.org/pictures-im
  ages-photos/american-quarter-horses-01.jpg
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  urro/images/qh.gif
• http//www.losalamitos.com/laqhr/cofc2007/DashForC
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  h500w284sz52hlenstart457tbnidymjcUFxdu
  2byAMtbnh130tbnw74prev/images3Fq3DQuarter
  2BHorse2BView2Bfrom2Brear26start3D44026gbv
  3D226ndsp3D2026svnum3D1026hl3Den26sa3DN
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