The English Thoroughbred

The English Thoroughbred or Thoroughbred is the most popular and most used breed of blood horse on racecourses, especially during gallop races.

Origin

Renowned for its agility and velocity, the English Thoroughbred is native to England as its name indicates. It comes from a selective breeding that began in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The fastest foreign stallions, mostly of Arab breed, were then crossed with local mares, mainly Barbes, in order to win gallop races.

It is a warm-blooded saddle horse bred mainly in the UK, France, USA, Ireland, Australia, Japan and New Zealand. It can measure up to 1.65 meters on average, and can reach a weight of almost 500 kg.

Role

Thoroughbreds are racehorses essentially bred to participate in equestrian sports. However, they can be found in equestrian sports such as eventing, show jumping, polo or dressage. They are also used as training mounts in riding clubs and can be ridden in race hunts.

Because of their reputation, thoroughbreds have become the most widely used horse breed in crossbreeding. They help to improve other breeds, and are often crossed with mares of foreign or local origins to give new breeds of bloodhorses. This is the case, for example, of the Anglo-Arab, which is a cross between Thoroughbred and Arabian, or the Selle Français, which is a cross between English Thoroughbred and native mares.

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