A question about early thoroughbreds

[dray33]

This is a question about defining the early thoroughbred. Recently I saw a print of a horse that I thought was nice, and upon further research if found a few interesting issues that I know could be answered here by you fine people. Here is the facts:

Image in question:
http://www.oldprintshop.com/images/large/37607.jpg

What i noticed is:
a) the horse's stride did not look "thoroughbred-like" and upon review, it indeed is not. The subcaption reads "Trotting a mile under the saddle..."
b) the name "DEXTER" does not appear in the thoroughbred pedigree query.

Upon further research (using the All Breeds database here at pedigree online), I found this:
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/dexter5

Was this the Dexter in the print? Yes. Because:
a) Hambletonian and American Star were both mentioned in the text, sire and broodmare sire respectively.

So here we have DEXTER of early STANDARDBRED fame, a trotter.

My question:
Please notice AMERICAN STAR on that pedigree page. His sire AND dam are thoroughbreds. What made him a STANDARDBRED? I know this is probably a silly question, but I would love to learn some of the specifics to determining the difference. Seems to me, they are indeed one in the same or closely related, somehow.

Help? Thoughts?

Much thanks...

Drew

[dray33]

Oh, here's further proof of DEXTER, the trotter:
http://www.oldprintshop.com/images/large/38211.jpg

[Lucy]

American Star wasn't born a Standardbred for a very simple reason - at the time of his foaling, there was no such breed! However, he was one of several TBs that helped create it. Dexter's pedigree is a very early example of the breed, which didn't have a formal registry until the 1870's.

A note of trivia about Dexter - the classic 'trotting horse' weathervane seen all over the USA was modeled after him.

[dray33]

Thanks for the reply Lucy... I need to ask... why was American Star considered a "Standardbred" and not a "Thoroughbred"? What differentiated this horse, who's parents were thoroughbreds?

[Lucy]

Thanks for the reply Lucy... I need to ask... why was American Star considered a "Standardbred" and not a "Thoroughbred"? What differentiated this horse, who's parents were thoroughbreds?

Well, obviously, he could not have been a 'Standardbred', for the reasons mentioned above....but even the term 'Thoroughbred' was a lot more vague in American Star's day. He is considered Standardbred for the purpose of the All-Breed database because that is how his descendants were eventually registered.

He himself, despite his breeding, raced as a trotter. I do not know if he was ever entered into the American Stud Book as a Thoroughbred, but I am reasonably certain that he never produced any foals that were. However, I am not fortunate enough to have access to its earliest volumes, so I welcome corrections if I am mistaken.

[dray33]

What is the difference between a thoroughbred and a standardbred?

[dray33]

I have answered my own question

"Standardbred harness racing horses are so called because in the early years of the Trotting Registry, the standardbred stud book established in the United States in 1879 by the National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders, only horses who could race a mile in a standard time or better, or whose get could race a mile in standard time or better, were entered in the book.

Here is a great read about this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardbr ... ed_History

[dray33]

And:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harness_racing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoroughbreds

[Lucy]

That's me off the hook, then....that did a better job of explaining it than I could have. Glad you found your answer!

[dray33]

Thanks for the info Lucy, greatly appreciated. Sometimes I need things explained to me like a 6 year old child!

[Barbaro06]

I always try to figure out pacing and trotting races...I get the leg movements confused! Thanks for the info!

[Nessa]

I always try to figure out pacing and trotting races...I get the leg movements confused! Thanks for the info!

Pacers run moving the legs on the same side(right front and right hind together/ left front and left hind) a lateral gait, and trotters run moving the opposing legs(right front/left hind and left front/right hind) diagonal gait.

[dray33]

Which begs the next question. The gait of a horse, be it trotter, pacer, thoroughbred... is it "natural instinct", or can a horse be trained to run in any discipline? Can a thoroughbred foal be tought to run with a trotters gait?

[dray33]

To illustrate the difference:

Trotters:
http://www.oldprintshop.com/images/large/33133.jpg
http://www.oldprintshop.com/images/large/37607.jpg
http://www.oldprintshop.com/images/large/38211.jpg

These clearly illustrate the gait, one side of the horse the legs nearly touch, while the other side stretched apart.

Then there is pacers:
http://www.oldprintshop.com/images/large/3306.jpg

This illustrates each side of the horse, the legs run in tandem, both go front, both go back.

And finally, the only breed that matters (sorry, that's a joke, relax):
http://www.canadianhorseracinghalloffam ... nsmart.jpg
http://www.horsehats.com/Images/Horses/GhostZapper.gif

and the like...

Hope that helps!

[Nessa]

In America the dominate form of harness racing is pacing, with trotters a distant second, in Europe it's the opposite. It seems to me that certain bloodlines definitely have a aptitude for one over the other. Some horses run in gear that tends to keep them in one gait or the other. I know of horses here in Michigan that raced both ways, one week they would be trotting, the next time they would be pacing usually with the help of equipment to keep them in gait. I always thought that the horses that could race both ways were really neat.