The Working Quarter Horse
The American Quarter Horse was the first breed developed in the Americas. Originated during colonial times in the Carolinas and Virginia, where match racing was the leading outdoor sport, with races run down village streets. Since the horses were seldom raced beyond 440 yards, the horses were called "quarter milers".
The breeds foundation came from the Arabs, Barbs and Turks brought to the Americas by the Spanish explorers and traders. Selected stallions were crossed with horses brought from England in 1611, producing compact, heavily-muscled horses, which were faster over short distances than any other breed.
As man moves west, the Quarter Horse went with him to help him settle the continent. The breed survived time and change because it excelled in the qualities that were necessary in this new land. It was early adopted by ranchers as the greatest cattle and trail horse in the world, because it had inherent "cow sense".
Today there are more registered Quarter Horses then any other breed in the world.
The Headquarters of this breed is:
The American Quarter Horse Association
P.O. Box 200, Amarillo, TX 79168
Phone: 806-376-4811
The official publication of the AQHA is:
The Quarter Horse Journal
P.O. Box 32470, Amarillo, TX 79120
Phone: 800-291-7323
Cutting Horse Working Critter
The American Quarter Horse rider shown here is Drew Dunham
on his palamino cutting horse. The cutting was during the
Arizona Sun Circuit Cutting held on the outskirts of
Phoenix, Arizona.
The cutting horse is graded by a judge on the manner that
he is able to separate a single critter from the herd, and
then, on the athletic manner that he keeps the animal from
rejoining the herd. He is not to be qued by the rider who
should be nothing more than a passenger during the actual
work.
All Reining Horses in a class perform a specific numbered pattern. The pattern is composed of circles of varying circumferences which are performed a different speeds, flying change of leads, roll backs, fast turns of 90 to 720 degrees in both directions and sliding stops. He is judged on the basis of 70 points being a good performance and is given a comparable score of plus or minus the 70 points, based on his performance during each of his maneuvers.
Reining Horse
This is the 8 year old gelding "In-Dash Flasher" showing
his winning slide with his owner Dr. Nita Gulbas. Nita is a
Phoenix small animal Veterinarian. With In-Dash Flasher,
she was the Novice Amateur Reining Champion at the
Arizona Sun Country circuit and the Ladies Non-Pro
Champion at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.
Reining Horse Sliding
The American Quarter Horse rider here is Cal Cooper at
The Santa Barbara National Horse Show in Santa Barbara,
California.
Working Cow Horse
This is a junior horse (less then 5 years) wearing a
hackamore. The working cow horse performs a routine
which demonstrates the natural cow-sense and agility of the
horse.
The cow (which is called a critter) is allowed into one end
of the ring in which the horse and rider are waiting. The
horse keeps the critter at that end of the ring without any
cueing by the rider until he has properly demonstrated his
cutting ability. The rider cues the horse into allowing the
critter to escape and run up one side of the arena, he then
cues the horse to catch the critter, turn him back to run
down back toward the end of the arena and again uses cutting
horse moves. The rider here is shown completing the routine,
which is to move the critter off the rail and turn him in
both directions as in a figure of eight.