Standardbred

The origin of the Standardbred breed are traced back to Messenger, an English Thoroughbred foaled in 1780, and later exported to the United States. Messenger was the great-grand sire of Hambletonian, to whom every Standardbred can trace its heritage. This is a relatively new breed dating back only 200 years.

The term ‘Standardbred' originated in the late 1870's. The USA trotting authority required that only those horses who could pace or trot a mile in a ‘standard' time of 2.30 minutes or better were eligible for registration. Those horses bred to that standard became known as Standardbred's.

The first Standardbred races were contested on roads, with men challenging their friends to see who had the swifter steed. The sport's first two-minute mile was recorded in 1897 by the pacer Star Pointer. The horse who popularised pacing was Dan Patch, one of the fastest and recording 1:55 for the mile, he remains one of the most popular Standardbreds ever.

Conformation

As the Standardbred has always been bred to a performance standard, the type and conformation of this breed is quite wide ranging. However, many characteristics displayed throughout the breed are obvious to the experienced eye.

Head

Each of the light horse breed requires slightly different characteristics about the head. In general, the head should be well proportioned to the rest of the body, refined and clean-cut, with a chiselled appearance. A broad forehead, with great width between the eyes is desired. The face should be straight as compared to convex (Roman Nosed) or concave (Dished). The eyes should be set wide apart, the mouth shallow, and the nostrils large and sensitive. The upper and lower teeth should meet when biting.

Neck

The head should join the neck at about a 45 degree angle, with a distinct space between the jawbone and the neck. This is the throat latch. It should be clean cut. A horse who is heavy or thick in the throat latch area will generally not get his wind and be prone to choking under heavy restraint. The neck should be medium in length to fairly long, the head carried either high or at a moderate level. It is difficult for a horse to have a long stride and a short neck: however, the length of the horse's neck should be in proportion to the rest of the body. The neck should be slightly arched, lean and muscular, and blend smoothly with the shoulder. A high arched or heavily crested neck is undesirable

The shoulder is long and set at an angle of about 45 degrees from the withers to the point of the shoulders. Shoulders should be smooth yet well muscled. The withers should be well defined, extend well back beyond the top of the shoulder and be as high as the hips. Low, flat withers are not desirable.

The chest is deep and fairly thick, with this depth and thickness extending back into the forerib and barrel. A deep heart girth and well sprung foreribs give room for good respiratory and digestive capacity. The muscle of the forearm is large and tapers into the knee when viewed from the back or front. The knee joint should be clean, with its face flat and tipped neither in or outward. The pastern should be medium in length. The pastern and hoofs are set at about a 50 degree angle to the ground.

The top line should include a short, strong back and loin, a long, nicely turned and heavily muscled croup and a high, well set tail. The loin (coupling) must be short and very strongly muscled, as it lifts the forequarters when the horse is in motion.

The rear quarters should be thick, deep and well muscled when viewed from the side or rear. This muscling shows in thickness through the thigh, stifle and gaskin. The legs are muscled both inside and out, with the gaskin tied in low in the hock joint. The hocks are wide, deep and clean.

The bones of the legs should be flat, clean and free from fleshiness and puffiness. The bone should be of adequate strength and substance to support the horse during strenuous performance. The hock should be large, clean cut, wide from front to back and deep. Gaskin muscles should tie in very strongly and low on the hock. The knee should be wide when viewed from the front, deep and clean cut. When viewed from the front or rear, the knees and hocks should be dissected by an imaginary vertical line down the centre of the legs.

Tendons below the knees and hocks appear sharply separated from the cannons, giving the leg a flat appearance. All four legs are set squarely under the body. From the front view the forelegs are parallel with the feet pointing straight ahead. From the side view, a line drawn perpendicular to the ground should bisect the foreleg all the way from the shoulder to the rear of the hoof. From the rear view, the hocks should point straight back or turn in very slightly. The hind legs should be well under the horse and the feet point straight ahead. the hock should be set a the correct angle. Too much angle at the hock with the feet set too far under the body is called sick-hocked, too little angle is called post-legged.

The hoof should be well shaped, roomy and balanced in size with the horse. The heel should be deep, wide and open. The hoof should appear tough and durable. The pasterns should be medium in length and set at approx. 50 degrees to the ground. The hoof should have the same angle at the pastern. If the pastern is too straight it does not cushion the shock of the foot striking the ground and can lead to an injury in the ankle or a problem with suspensory ligaments. If the pastern is too long, greater stress is placed on the flexor tendon.

Colours

The Standardbred comes in a range of coat colours. The most common are Bay or Brown followed by Black and Chestnut. Grey, Roan, Pinto and Palomino are also known within the breed, but are not as common.

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