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==Breed history== ===Colonial era=== In the 1600s, imported English Thoroughbred horses were first bred with assorted local horses on the Eastern seaboard of colonial America.<ref name=QRH4>Denhardt ''Quarter Running Horse'' pp. 4–8</ref> One of the most famous of these early imports was [[Janus (horse)|Janus]], a Thoroughbred who was the grandson of the [[Godolphin Arabian]]. He was foaled in 1746, and imported to colonial Virginia in 1756.<ref name=QRH>Denhardt ''Quarter Running Horse'' pp. 20–32</ref> The influence of Thoroughbreds like Janus contributed genes crucial to the development of the colonial "Quarter Horse".<ref name=Colonial106>Mackay-Smith ''Colonial Quarter Race Horse'' p. 106</ref><ref name=Colonial138>Mackay-Smith ''Colonial Quarter Race Horse'' p. 138</ref> The resulting horse was small, hardy, quick, and was used as a work horse during the week and a race horse on the weekends.<ref name="Handbook">{{cite web |url= http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/tcq01|title= Quarter Horses|access-date=2006-05-30 |author = Beckmann, Bruce|website= Handbook of Texas Online|publisher= Texas State Historical Association}}</ref> As [[flat racing]] became popular with the colonists, the Quarter Horse gained even more popularity as a sprinter over courses that, by necessity, were shorter than the classic racecourses of England. These courses were often no more than a straight stretch of road or flat piece of open land. When competing against a Thoroughbred, local sprinters often won.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} As the Thoroughbred breed became established in America, many colonial Quarter Horses were included in the original American stud books.<ref name=Colonialxxxi>Mackay-Smith ''Colonial Quarter Race Horse'' p. xxxi</ref> This began a long association between the Thoroughbred breed and what would later become officially known as the "Quarter Horse", named after the {{convert|1/4|mile}} race distance at which it excelled.<ref>"American Quarter Horse." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2015. Web. 1 Jul. 2015.</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Storey's Illustrated Guide to 96 Horse Breeds of North America |first= Judith |last= Dutson |publisher=[[Storey Publishing]] |year= 2012 |isbn= 9781603429184 |page=64 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PS6zop4lVSUC&pg=PA64 }}</ref> Some Quarter Horses have been clocked at up to {{cvt|44|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web|title=AQHA World Records|url=https://www.aqha.com/american-quarter-horse-racing-world-records|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422122105/https://www.aqha.com/american-quarter-horse-racing-world-records|archive-date=2021-04-22|access-date=2021-06-27}}</ref> ===Westward expansion=== In the 19th century, pioneers heading West needed a hardy, willing horse. On the [[Great Plains]], settlers encountered horses that descended from the Spanish stock [[Hernán Cortés]] and other Conquistadors had introduced into the viceroyalty of [[New Spain]], which became the Southwestern United States and Mexico. The horses of the West included herds of [[feral]] animals known as [[Mustang (horse)|Mustangs]], as well as horses domesticated by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]], including the [[Comanche]], [[Shoshoni]] and [[Nez Perce (tribe)|Nez Perce]] tribes.<ref>{{cite book | editor-last = Moulton | editor-first = Gary E. | year = 2003 | title = The Lewis and Clark Journals | url = https://archive.org/details/lewisclarkjourna00meri | url-access = registration | publisher = University of Nebraska Press | location = Lincoln, Nebraska | isbn = 978-0-8032-8039-7}}</ref><ref>Murphy, Robert F., and Yolanda Murphy. Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and Society. Good Press, 2019. </ref> As the colonial Quarter Horse was crossed with these western horses, the pioneers found that the new crossbred had innate "cow sense", a natural instinct for working with cattle, making it popular with cattlemen on [[ranch]]es.<ref name=Colonial193>Mackay-Smith ''Colonial Quarter Race Horse'' p. 193</ref> ===Development as a distinct breed=== {{See also|American Quarter Horse Association|American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame}} [[File:Petermccuewithcaudell.jpg|thumb|left|A photograph of Peter McCue, taken in Oklahoma around 1905]] Early [[foundation bloodstock|foundation sires]] of Quarter Horse type included [[Steel Dust]], foaled 1843; [[Shiloh (horse)|Shiloh]] (or Old Shiloh), foaled 1844; Old Cold Deck (1862); Lock's Rondo, one of many "Rondo" horses, foaled in 1880; Old Billy—again, one of many "Billy" horses—foaled {{Circa|1880}}; [[Traveler (horse)|Traveler]], a stallion of unknown breeding, known to have been in Texas by 1889;<ref name="Legends 2">Close, ''Legends 2: Outstanding Quarter Horse Stallions and Mares.''</ref> and [[Peter McCue (horse)|Peter McCue]], foaled 1895, registered as a [[Thoroughbred]] but of disputed pedigree.<ref name="Handbook"/><ref name="Legends 2"/><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/quarter/|title= Quarter Horse|access-date=2008-06-11 |author = Oklahoma State University|website= Breeds of Livestock|publisher= Oklahoma State University| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080622082036/http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/quarter/| archive-date= 22 June 2008 <!--DASHBot-->|url-status = live}}</ref> Another early foundation sire for the breed was [[Copperbottom]], foaled in 1828, who tracks his lineage through the [[Byerley Turk]], a foundation sire of the [[Thoroughbred]] horse breed.<ref name="Copperbottom">{{Cite web |url=http://quarterhorserecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Copperbottom.pdf |title=Copperbottom |access-date=2019-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026145237/http://quarterhorserecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Copperbottom.pdf |archive-date=2019-10-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Lost Bloodline">{{Cite web |url=http://horsesonly.com/pednotes/WL/copperb.htm |title=Lost Bloodline |access-date=2019-10-26 |archive-date=2019-10-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028170709/http://horsesonly.com/pednotes/WL/copperb.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Sir Archy">[http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/SirArchy.html Sir Archy]</ref><ref name="History">[https://www.aqha.com/history-of-the-quarter-horse History of the Quarter Horse]</ref> The main duty of the ranch horse in the American West was working cattle. Even after the invention of the automobile, horses were still irreplaceable for handling livestock on the range. Thus, major Texas cattle [[ranch]]es, such as the [[King Ranch]], the 6666 (Four Sixes) Ranch, and the [[Waggoner Ranch]] played a significant role in the development of the modern Quarter Horse. The skills required by cowboys and their horses became the foundation of the [[rodeo]], a contest which began with informal competition between [[cowboy]]s and expanded to become a major competitive event throughout the west. The Quarter Horse dominates in events that require speed as well as the ability to handle cattle.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1186/1471-2164-13-78|pmid = 22340285|pmc = 3309927|title = Whole-Genome sequencing and genetic variant analysis of a quarter Horse mare|journal = BMC Genomics|volume = 13|page=78|year = 2012|last1 = Doan|first1 = Ryan|last2 = Cohen|first2 = Noah D|last3 = Sawyer|first3 = Jason|last4 = Ghaffari|first4 = Noushin|last5 = Johnson|first5 = Charlie D|last6 = Dindot|first6 = Scott V | doi-access=free }}</ref> Sprint races were also popular weekend entertainment and racing became a source of economic gain for breeders. As a result, more Thoroughbred blood was added into the developing American Quarter Horse breed. The American Quarter Horse also benefitted from the addition of [[Arabian Horse|Arabian]], [[Morgan horse|Morgan]], and even [[Standardbred horse|Standardbred]] bloodlines.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://afs.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/quarter/|title=Breeds of Livestock - Quarter Horse — Breeds of Livestock, Department of Animal Science|website=afs.okstate.edu|date=31 March 2021 }}</ref> In 1940, the [[American Quarter Horse Association]] (AQHA) was formed by a group of horsemen and ranchers from the Southwestern United States dedicated to preserving the pedigrees of their ranch horses.<ref name=QH143>Denhardt ''Quarter Horse'' pp. 143–167</ref> After winning the 1941 Fort Worth Exposition and Fat Stock Show grand champion stallion, the horse honored with the first registration number, P-1, was [[Wimpy P-1|Wimpy]],<ref name=imh>{{cite web|url=http://imh.org/horse-breeds-of-the-world/american-quarter-horse/ |title=American Quarter Horse |access-date=2008-06-11 |author=Kentucky Horse Park |website=International Museum of the Horse- Horse Breeds of the World |publisher=Kentucky Horse Park |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822025938/http://www.imh.org/horse-breeds-of-the-world/american-quarter-horse/ |archive-date=2010-08-22 }}</ref> a descendant of the [[King Ranch]] foundation sire [[Old Sorrel (horse)|Old Sorrel]]. Other sires alive at the founding of the AQHA were given the earliest registration numbers [[Joe Reed (horse)|Joe Reed P-3]], Chief P-5, [[Oklahoma Star|Oklahoma Star P-6]], Cowboy P-12, and Waggoner's Rainy Day P-13.<ref name=AQHASB1>American Quarter Horse Association ''Combined Stud Book 1-2-3-4-5'' p. 1</ref> The [[Thoroughbred]] race horse [[Three Bars (horse)|Three Bars]], alive in the early years of the AQHA, is recognized by the [[American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame]] as one of the significant foundation sires for the Quarter Horse breed.<ref name=HoF3Bars>{{cite web|url=http://siteexec.aqha.com/foundation/halloffame/images/Three%20Bars.pdf |publisher=American Quarter Horse Association |title=Three Bars (TB) |access-date=2010-12-21 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707153955/http://siteexec.aqha.com/foundation/halloffame/images/Three%20Bars.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-07 }}</ref> Other significant Thoroughbred sires seen in early AQHA pedigrees include [[Rocket Bar]], [[Top Deck (horse)|Top Deck]] and Depth Charge.<ref name=Wiggins166>Wiggins ''Great American Speedhorse'' p. 166</ref>
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