These pets have been faithful companions for centuries. A hundred years ago, they were the main mode of transport and the main draught force. And, as with any other means of transport, the most important indicator was their speed. How fast can this animal run at all? We will answer these and other questions in this article.
During the whole history of equestrian and sporting competitions, there were no more swift horses than the representatives of the English purebred riding breed.
In today's world, these animals are no longer associated with England, and therefore the breed is simply called the purebred riding breed. This is explained simply - since the speed of these horses became known, they were bred in many countries, not only in their historical homeland.
The average speed that these sharp horses can develop is 60 kilometers per hour.
Exceptional, inaccessible to other breeds, the speed of the horse of this breed is due to the special structure of its body, which would seem to be created for a rapid jump. The fried torso, powerful muscles, and long, strong limbs make this breed unattainable for other breeds on smooth jumps.
The pulse of a full-bodied, thoroughbred horse reaches one hundred and forty beats per minute.
Is that a lot or a little? Compare for yourself - the maximum number of other breeds of running horses is only 60 beats per minute. This is due to the fact that all breeding work in the breeding of this racetrack was aimed solely at improving its sharpness.
Until now, experts consider the representatives of the purebred riding breed ideal animals, created for fast running. Their power, speed, and grace to this day delight true connoisseurs of these beautiful animals.
Which horse gait is the fastest?
The maximum speed of a horse's movement directly depends on the way of running (experts call it a gait), which it uses. The fastest horse gait is the gallop.
It is using this style of running, the horse spends the maximum time as if hanging in the air. Running a gallop is most convenient for the animal, and the main task of the rider is to try to facilitate its movement. For this purpose, professional jockeys use shortened stirrups, and almost the entire race is not sitting in the saddle, and stand above it.
In natural conditions of wild nature, only a serious threat to a horse's life can make him switch to a gallop. They rarely gallop in everyday life. This way of running allows the animal to speed up quickly, but it can not jump at the limit of strength for a long time. Usually, it can run about three kilometers in its entire length. Slowly galloping horses cover much longer distances.
The fast gallop differs from its slow variant in that it has an average horse speed of sixty kilometers per hour against twenty kilometers per hour.
How fast can a racehorse run?
Anyone who is even slightly interested in riding knows that the fastest horse in the world is a stallion named Beach Raquitt. And the speed record for racing horses, which hasn't been beaten up so far, was set in 1945 at the competitions in Mexico City. So far, not a single fast horse has beaten this outstanding result. Those people who were lucky enough to see this outstanding horse running said that God himself had a hand in his birth.
The stopwatch recorded a phenomenal speed of 69.69 kilometers per hour for these animals.
The second place was occupied by Siglevie Slave, a purebred horse. He managed to show 69.3 kilometers per hour. However, it should be said that the horse managed to develop such a speed without a rider in the saddle.
Let's say at once - the listed results were shown on short distances, where the horse can make the most of it without damaging his health. And only purebred horses are capable of such results. No other horse breed can compete with them yet. For the sake of fairness, the speed of the record-breaking horses was calculated as average over the entire distance. Nobody knows what was the maximum rate in the race.
Longer runs require the correct distribution of power, and the average speed at such competitions is much lower. However, there is an outstanding record-breaker here, too. A horse named John Henry was able to show an average speed of 60.7 kilometers per hour in a 2.4-kilometer race in 1977.