The History of thoroughbred breeding began in England and the Middle East. The English were breeding heavy, well built horses to carry their crusaders and the Middle East were breeding lighter, quicker and more agile horses.

A Middle Eastern Stallion known as Byerlye Turk was used for breeding by his owner, an English captain. Byerlye Turk was bred with English mares and produced the Herod line of thoroughbreds. The descendants of this particular stallion and others like him that were brought to England were bred and crossbred to create a line of horses that were very strong but exceedingly fast. The horses had long, strong hind legs in order to produce the fastest speed, a wide girth which enabled a larger lung capacity. The shoulders of these horses are long and sloped to allow an even greater stride. Breeding these horses was an amazing accomplishment.

In today’s world thoroughbred breeding and racing is a massive business and the country that actually now has the most thoroughbreds is the United States of America. There were approximately 50,000 foals registered last year alone. All thoroughbred foals have the official birth date of the 1st January allocated to them even if they were born in June.

Their racing career usually begins at about two years of age but many do not race for long due to injuries. They are then either retired or sold. Thoroughbred horses are extremely strong willed and highly strung. After they have been retired there are not many other sports that they could compete in and owning one is not always easy either. They have a tendency to just love galloping and this rather limits the type of person who can own one.