Race Horses

Article supplied by Trevor Ives - Thunder Ridge Stud 

There are three types of Race Horses

Firstly the most well known is the Thoroughbred known as a Galloper; it has a long tradition and can be traced back to a couple of Arab stallions, that they evolved from.

The action of the galloper is 4 feet off the ground at the same time. As in this picture, They are Lovely horse and have been the foundation of the Australian Stock Horse now it’s own breed. Thoroughbreds mares are never artificially inseminated which requires overseas stallions to be import to Australia for breeding.

Secondly you have the Standardbred which comes in two racing varieties. Standardbreds are know as Pacers or Trotters when they race. Many people are not aware that a Standardbred has a different bone structure to a Thoroughbred. Standardbreds also have their own stud book . Some people think a Thoroughbred can be adapted to Pacing or Trotting, this is incorrect . Racing

Standardbreds must be registered as Standardbreds. The Pacer races with hopples these are loops around their legs these loops connect to a strap that makes the front leg and the rear leg move at the same time and it helps them keep their stride. In modern days some Pacers race without hopples them to keep stride, spacing is not a natural gait without hopples as with the years of breeding the gait is getting more natural. If breeders had been more selective with their breeding stock there would have been able to do away with hopples many years ago.

The Pacer runs with 2 legs in unison on the same side. History says that Napoleons horses that pulled his gun carriages galloping would die after a hard days work. He wanted something more durable . It is unknown if this was how Pacers actually come about or not. But he got his horses and tied their front legs and their back legs on the same side to saplings which made the horse pace. Pacing they could work for days. This proves out today , Young pacers and trotters in their training for their first prep work a total of 500 miles over a period of time. Thoroughbreds exercise about 1,000 to 2,000 meters a day. Standardbreds do anything up to 12 to 20 miles a day jogging and pace work twice a week over 2 miles and some race once a week as well. They are very tough and make great endurance horses hence the Australian Rambler but that’s another story.

The Trotter This horse mostly racers without any gear on their legs as trotting is a natural gait although some trotters use trotting hopples which are hopples only on the front legs. This helps them to stay in stride if they gallop a bit out of their trot. Trotters do the same amount of work and some do more as the pacer.
Amount of work if not more than the pacers. Trotters races are normally longer than pacing races. Trotters run a mile rate of about 2 minutes 4 seconds and pacers get down to a mile rater in Australia of about 1 minute 53 seconds . A trotters gait is diagonal and this is why they call them square gaiters .E.G near front leg hits the ground at the same time as the off side rear leg.

To finish off, Harness Racing is not as popular as Thoroughbred racing with the punter, as runs with a cart behind are makes it harder for the horses to get through the field. Trainers also prefer thoroughbreds due mainly to prize money and promotion. Harness racing is very big in Victoria and Western Australia as the prize money there is much better than in other states. Harness racing is a lot more fun for me as I have trained both types of horses and with the harness racer you don’t need a track work riders etc, as you can do it all yourself . Driving is great fun.