Like you'd expect from any activity involving green horses, the 100-Day Thoroughbred Challenge offered spectators at the Maryland Horse World Expo, Jan. 18-20 in Timonium, Md., some thrills, spills and surprises. But it also offered inspiration (to ride better), information (on why Thoroughbreds off the track do some of the things they do), and a solid case made on behalf of ex-racers as excellent sport horses-in-waiting.
It used to be that if you wanted to check out a promising horse coming off the racetrack, you needed an “in”—someone who could get you access to the backstretch and put you in touch with race horse trainers who might have good sport horse candidates. Those two universes—”race horse people” and “sport horse people”—well, it was often a case of “never the twain shall meet.”
On a muggy afternoon in July, the infield at Pimlico Race Course rumbled with the sound of galloping hooves of a different kind—an all-Thoroughbred horse show designed to showcase the versatility of the breed and raise funds for rehoming organizations.
What’s one way to stand out in the show ring? Wear stripes!
After Zack the zebra kept jumping out of his field, Sammi Jo Stohler figured he might have a knack for having fun over fences. “I had to build an 8' fence around the property because he kept jumping out,” she said. “He can clear 5' without a problem; he just walks up to a fence and ends up on the other side of it. I said, ‘I bet he can do it with a rider,’ and yep, it was no problem.”
The Spanish Riding School of Vienna has stood for equestrian tradition and perfection for 430 years. It is the only institution in the world which preserves to this day the classical art of the Haute Ãcole which began in the Renaissance.
The "Spanish" part of its name stems from the Spanish horses ' the ancestors of the Lipizzaners ' which were much sought-after in the royal court at that time.
The Lipizzaner is the oldest European pure-bred horse. Its ancestry goes as far back as the 8th century, and derives mainly from Spanish or, more precisely, Andalusian bloodlines.
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