What does the term mean?
2006-06-14 03:24:59 · 13 answers · asked by idliwada_1205 1 in Sports ➔ Horse Racing
A quarter horse is a breed that is relatively new (colonial era)and indicates a horse that is fast in short distances.
2006-06-14 03:39:11 · answer #1 · answered by Carol P 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
A Quarter Horse is a breed of horse that is used for every type of riding discipline out there including quarter mile racing. People used to race their horses over a quarter of a mile. What happened was that a the type of horses used for quarter mile racing started to develop very strong muscular haunches (hip area) which allowed for them to start stronger and faster and propel themselves forward faster. A quarter mile is a very short race. So on top of pysical features, they also gained a lot of speed. So the quarter horse as we know it today came from this origin. There are four different typs of quarter horses now. The first type is a very refined looking horse that has very muscular haunches, the second is a little less refined and has even more muscular haunches. The third typs is more muscular all over and is popular in the proffessional arenas as they make great Western and English Pleasure mounts. The fourth type is called bull dog. These horses are like the Mr. Univers Arnold Shwartzenneggar of the horse world. These are the type of horses that excel at in hand classes. The first type is the most popular for horse racing.
Quarter mile racing is still popular today. It is open to full and half Quarter Horses. A half Quarter Horse is called an Appendix Quarter Horse and is the result of a cross between a registered Quarter Horse and a registered Thoroughbred or a cross between two registered Appendix Quarter Horses.
Quarter horses are not limited to racing or working. They excel at jumping because of their powerful hindquarters and are good at Hunt Seat sports because they are so naturally long strided. Yes they are great at barrel racing because of their ability to speed up and they are good at working cattle because they are intelligent. They even have the Quarter Horse Congress (in Columbus Ohio in October every year) that is dedicated to the breed. They have shows of every discipline, exhibits, art, food, fun. It is an incredible event to go visit if not for the learning experience.
2006-06-15 00:48:05 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The quarter horse got its name from when the breed originated as "the Virginia Quarter Pather". The horses were originally bred as all around using farm horses for plowing, driving and riding and racing at gatherings. Beig as the races were usually run on quarter mile stretches of fields or roads these ruggedly built horses soon got the name based on their ability to run the quarter path.
As the country opened up and horses moved from farm work to ranch work the Virginia Quarter Pather began to show its worth at cattle work and breeders began to call the horse a "Quarter Horse" mainly because it was (and still is)the fastest horse in the worldfor a quarter of a mile. These ranchers bred the Quarter horse to be an outstanding ranch horse. Over the years there are various types of Quarter horse being bred to suit various disciplines and each of these disciplines has placed emphasis on varying conformational characteristics that have almost becmecompletely different from the original Quarterhorse breed standard!
2006-06-18 04:11:16 · answer #3 · answered by forgewizard 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A Quarter Horse is a breed of horse, and they got their name from the fact that they can beat Thoroughbreds in a 1/4 mile race...
2006-06-19 12:12:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Quarter horses are very fast because they only race for a quarter of a mile. This term in thoroughbred racing is refering to several horses in a particular race with about the same speed. They will be finishing together at the finish.
2006-06-14 11:17:55 · answer #5 · answered by L A 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Look it up in Wikipedia or just type in quarter horse or American Quarter Horse & start reading! They ARE whole horses. The term quarter is referring to their bloodline being mixed with other types of horses bloodlines. These horses also participate in short 1/4 (quarter) mile races which are so fast from start to finish, that you'll miss it if you blink! It is very different from thorobred racing & so are the horses. Quarter horses are used for many different things, besides racing. One of them would be to herd cattle & sheep, because they are quick to respond from their rider.
2006-06-14 19:07:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A quarter horse is a breed of horse, like the Arabian, Tennessee Walker, etc.
2006-06-15 16:37:05 · answer #7 · answered by bphillip2000 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The term Quarter horse,,,yes they was mainly used for Quarter mile races....But...They use Quarter horses in..220yds..300 yds..etc,,all the way out to 870 yd ..1/2 mile races..
2006-06-14 12:22:14 · answer #8 · answered by maddog277 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its a breed, just like there are thoroughbreads, arabians, belgium, etc. I also know that when you cross a quarter horse and a thoroughbread (sp?) its called Appendix.
Quarter horses are considered working horses, they are typically used as barrell racing, reining, cutting, roping etc.
2006-06-14 10:30:11 · answer #9 · answered by redneckgirl 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a breed of horse that can typically outrun other breeds within a 1/4 mile distance. Very popular breed because of it's versatility.
2006-06-15 08:14:48 · answer #10 · answered by Sarah Jane 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋