Horse Breeding Overview

Horse breeding is the process of using selective breeding to produce additional individuals of a given phenotype, that is, continuing a breed. Alternatively, a breeder could, using individuals of differing phenotypes, create a new breed, with specific characteristics.

Beyond phenotype (appearance and conformation) of horses, breeders aspire to improve physical performance abilities. This has led to the development of families or bloodlines within breeds that are specialists for excelling in specific events.

An example of this is horses that are bred to excel in a performance event called "Cutting", or separating a cow from a herd and frustrating the cow's strong instinct to rejoin the herd. This event favors horses that are highly trainable, eg - have an ability to learn from repetitive stimuli, that conformationally have short cannons and low hocks to facilitate quick stops and low turns, are muscular and athletic and commonly somewhat short in stature, and who demonstrate an attitude of dominating a cow, known as "cowsense."

Another example would be show hunter horses that are bred to excel in events such as "Hunter Under Saddle," "English Pleasure," or "Hunter On The Flat." This event favors animals that are tall and leggy, who are able to trot and canter smoothly and efficiently while giving the equestrian a comfortable ride, and who have a naturally good jump with bascule and good form.

A show jumper, however, would be bred less for overall form and more for power over fences, speed, scope, and a general carefulness. This favors a lighter horse with a good galloping stride, a powerful and strong hind end, and a good shoulder angle and length of neck.

The male parent of a horse is commonly known as the sire and the female parent as the dam. The quality of the sire is regarded as more important than the quality of the mare in many circles. However, both are equally important, as each gives 50% of the genes. It may even be said that the mare is more important, as the foal often learns habits from its dam when young.

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A Brief History of Horse Breeding:
Man is thought to have first driven the horse several thousand years ago, and to have mounted and ridden the animal a few thousand years following. However, documented breeding has a more blurry history.

One of the earliest people known to document the breedings of their horses were the Bedouins, the breeders of the great Arabian horse. The ancient Akhal-Teke has also been bred for centuries, possibly longer than the Arabian, specifically for war and racing. The nomads of the Mongolian steppes bred horses for several thousand years as well, and horse herding is still present in modern Mongolia.

Horse breeding changed with the times. Medieval Europe bred large horses specifically for war, called destriers. These horses were the ancestors of the great heavy horses of today, and their size was preferred not because of the weight of the armor, but because a large horse provided more power for the knight’s lance. Weighting almost twice as much as a normal riding horse, the destrier was a powerful weapon in battle. During this time, lighter horses were bred in northern Africa and the Middle East by Muslim warriors, who did not use lances and preferred a faster, cat-like horse than a slower, larger horse.

The lighter horse suited the raids and battles of the Bedouins better than a destrier, and allowed them to outmaneuver rather than overpower the enemy. The Europeans, however, made up for the lack of speed of their native breeds by adding hotter blood—probably Arabian, Barb, or Turkish—to their stables to create a type of horse known as a Courser, which was used as a message horse rather than a war horse.

The need for horses for heavy draft work continued until the industrial revolution and the advent of the automobile. After this time, draft horse numbers then dropped significantly. The animals are today used mainly for pulling and plowing competitions rather than farm work. They have also been used to outcross with lighter breeds, such as the Thoroughbred, to produce a horse more suited for the sport horse disciplines.

During the Renaissance, horses were bred not only for war, but for haute ecole riding, which was the current rage. Thus the Lipizzaner was first developed from the Spanish horses.

It was during the 1600s when Europe began to really focus on breeding horses for specific purposes. The use of the horse determined its qualities, from smooth amblers for riding to horses bred specifically for carrying goods. It was during this time that gunpowder was developed, and so the light cavalry horse, a faster and quicker war horse, was bred for a “shoot and run” tactic rather than the close hand-to-hand fighting seen in the Middle Ages.

After Charles II retook the British throne in 1660, horse racing, which had been banned by Cromwell, was revived. The Thoroughbred was developed 40 years later, bred to be the ultimate racehorse, through the lines of 3 foundation stallions. The Thoroughbred breeding hub in Lexington, Kentucky was developed in the late 1700s, and became a mainstay in American racehorse breeding. The Thoroughbred continues to dominate the horseracing world, although its lines have been more recently used to improve warmblood breeds and to develop sport horses.

The 17th and 18th centuries saw more of a need for fine carriage horses in Europe, bringing in the dawn of the warmblood. The warmblood breeds have been exceptionally good at adapting to changing times, and from their carriage horse beginnings they easily transitioned during the 1900s into a sport horse type. Today’s warmblood breeds, although still used for competitive driving, are more often seen competing in the show jumping or dressage arenas.

The American Quarter Horse was developed in the 1700s, mainly for quarter racing (racing 1/4 of a mile). The breed was later developed for work in the west; and “cowsense” was particularly bred for as their use for herding cattle increased. The Quarter Horse today has two distinct types: the sleeker racing type and the stock horse type. The racing type most resembles the finer-boned ancestors of the first racing Quarter Horses, and the type is still used for 1/4-mile races. The stock horse type is the more popular of the two, and is used in western events and is bred for a shorter stride, docile temperament, and cowsense.

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