Quarter Horse Broodmares

For two centuries, high quality Quarter Horse broodmares have been very expensive. The hallmark of the breed is its great speed over short distances. Quarter-mile racing was the first horse sport in America and short-distance horses were very popular in the USA in the 19th century. The colonists were interested in short races mainly because the main street in most small towns was the only flat road for organizing horse races. Usually, the main street was no longer than a quarter of a mile. To succeed in short races, the horses had to be very muscular, agile, intelligent and obedient. Races were not the main purpose of the Quarter Horse. Actually, it was bred for working with cattle.

In fact, first Quarter Horse broodmares were a mixture of breeds and bloodlines. The basics of the breed were made from the Spanish and English horses brought by the first settlers. Thoroughbreds and small endurable horses of the Native Americans contributed much to the new breed. First short-distance horses were registered as Thoroughbreds, before the Stud Book for the Quarter Horse was established. First American farmers and ranches who owned these horses didn’t have a breeding plan. They just chose the most agile and quick mares and stallions.

Before the Stud Book was established, Quarter Horses were not a breed, but a type. Many farmers in the Southwest and in the East didn’t try to keep the Quarter Horse as a distinct breed. Quarter Horse broodmares were bred to Arabian, Spanish, Morgan, and Standardbred stallions. Only in the 1940s when the Quarter Horse was established as a separate breed, owners and breeders of high quality horses started to keep careful records of every breeding.  

After short racing has lost its popularity, the Quarter Horse was preserved only due to the efforts of the devoted breeders. Although most breeders didn’t show and promote their horses, but bred Quarter Horses for ranch work, others preferred to keep sprinter speed as a primary requisite of the breed and participate in shows for purebreds. As the breed is not very old, nowadays there are many Quarter Horse broodmares that trace their origin to the foundation stock of the breed.