The English Thoroughbred, an equine breed originating in Great Britain , the “Thoroughbred”, selected for gallop races in racecourses.
Officially, the modern origins of the English Thoroughbred date back to 1793 with the publication of the Stud Book (Book of the origins or herd book of racehorses) concerning the famous 50 indigenous mares, the Royal Mares, and three oriental stallions: Byerly Turk, Darley Arabian and Godolphin Barb, from which all the modern “racing thoroughbreds” descend in the male line, to which it is possible to add a fourth stallion Curwen Bay Barb as it has also offered a good genetic contribution. Discover now all our trips, tours, holidays and horse trekking in Great Britain. Actually, the selection of the English racehorse began much earlier; already from the conquest of Britain the Romans brought oriental horses to that land (especially the Berber) which were used for racing in the Circus Maximus, from this moment on there was a continuous influx of oriental horses into England, especially during the Crusades, and through exchanges with Italy where the Palios ran from the Middle Ages. It is worth noting that the Royal Mares were also oriental mares of various origins (Berber, Turkish, Syrian, Arab and crosses between these breeds), very fast, selected on 400 m. So the origin of the English Thoroughbred is clearly Eastern, but functional selection made it a morphologically better horse than its ancestors.
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