The Thoroughbred horse has been bred over more than three centuries to produce an animal that can run with great endurance at incredible speeds. Lineage and pedigree are important factors in breeding Thoroughbred race horses. Owners will do extensive research to decide which stallion they believ...
Read MoreAnatomy / Pedigree
Photographer: Kathy Landman
Good conformation starts with the bones - 205 bones make up the equine skeletal anatomy.
The neck is the most flexible portion of the horse’s spine.
A typical adult horse has forty permanent teeth.
The horse does not have a collarbone. Front legs are not attached to the rest of the skeleton.
The horse skeletal structure is held together with ligaments, tendons and muscles.
The hind quarters can propel the horse forward 40-miles an hour in six strides
Photographer: Kathy Landman
Every thoroughbred can trace its ancestry back to three foundation stallions that were imported to England in the eighteenth century: the Darley Arabian, the Byerly Turk and the Godolphin Arabian or Barb.
Photographer: Kathy Landman
The horse’s body provides three major functions: protects the internal organs, provides a skeletal structure and supports soft parts of the body.