Quarter Horses, Kings of the quarter mile
By KryssaLee
Ron Paul Curriculum 6th Grade English taught by
By KryssaLee
Ron Paul Curriculum 6th Grade English taught by
Professor Mullins
My Quarter horse Big Jake
For decades, Quarter Horses have been used as cow ponies and were the very first race horses on American soil. They could cut cows expertly out of the herd, and they also were used for quarter mile racing, testing one horses' speed against the other.
Hard working pioneers were glad for a rest in the evenings, when the races took place. They found straightways carved out of virgin forests and used them as race tracks. They used their wives' big iron kettles turned upside-down to scrape these straightways smooth. These races were sometimes only 10 yards long, and sometimes they stretched for a full quarter mile. No matter how long the races were the pioneers were thrilled by the bursting flash of speed made by their horses. This recreative sport helped rest aching muscles used to settle this new land, and it relieved the homesickness for the land the pioneers had left.
Then one day, a rival came to challenge the chunky Quarter Horse, the Thoroughbred. The Quarter Horse would always lead for the first quarter of a mile, then the Thoroughbred would slowly catch up and pass. The Thoroughbreds were king of the mile.
No matter how fast a Thoroughbred was at the get-away, the Quarter Horse always beat him for the first quarter mile. No Thoroughbred could pass the spunky Quarter horse on that first quarter mile. The pioneers attempted to cross these breeds in order to create a horse that could run faster longer. Even though they did this, the results were always in favor of the Quarter horses' lightening quick starts versus the Thoroughbreds stamina. The crossed offspring never could keep the fast pace up for the entire mile.
Always, the Quarter Horse is King of the quarter mile.
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