The All-American American Quarter Horses. How To Keep Them Strong And Healthy
The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling vehicle in the history of the world with over 40 million sold since its introduction in 1966! By 1997 it had outsold even the cheeky original Volkswagen Beetle to take that number one spot. To car enthusiasts, there has been relatively little to get excited about when a new Corolla is introduced, it's not a sports car by any means, after all. Yet, to the tens of millions of people around the world who have taken delivery of one, they're the greatest thing on wheels because they do everything well, not just an attribute here or there.
Thus, it can be argued that the American Quarter Horse is the Toyota Corolla of the horse world. They're not fast enough to beat a Thoroughbred over long distances, but they are by no means slow. They're not strong enough to out pull a Percheron, but they are by no means weak. However, as evidenced by the fact it enjoys the largest registry in the world with over 3 million registered, the American Quarter Horse (coincidentally the most popular horse in the United States), has plenty of fans who feel this horse does everything well, and thus finds all of its many attributes endearing, whether they be for competition, work, or pleasure.
Like the Corolla, the American Quarter Horse is considered compact. They have short heads and compact necks, along with bellies that are longer than their backs, and they typically measure between 15 to 16 hands in height. Yet, they feature strong, well-muscled bodies overall, but in particular, their hindquarters are massive, allowing the horse to have explosive power from a dead stop. In fact, their name derives from the fact they attain great success racing in events a quarter mile (or less) in length!
The care and feeding of these docile, even-tempered horses is fairly simple, given their lineage to wild breeds like the Mustang which saw their hardiness carry on through the generations. They have few health concerns to worry about, the most serious being a genetic condition called Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (HYPP) which leads to uncontrolled muscle twitching or profound muscle weakness. Overall, American Quarter Horses are known to be easy keepers and they maintain an ideal weight on a fairly low amount of grass hay feed. It is important that you not overfeed these horses as they can become overweight quite easily. However, since proper supplementation of daily feed can benefit even the healthiest and sturdiest of horse breeds, Horse Guard Inc. developed a range of products to provide your horse with scientifically proven, balanced nutrition.
American Quarter Horses can benefit from our Simplete High Performance formula, which is a 2 lb daily supplement featuring the perfect combination of oats, extruded soybeans, Probiotics & Prebiotics, and Omega-3 oils, along with the nutrient package of our 4-in-1 Trifecta supplement. All this makes Simplete a truly simple, complete and concentrated nutritional supplement for performance horses of all varieties.
Since our creation over 35 years ago, we have strived to make horse health and customer service our highest priorities. Contact us today at (800) 553-4246 to learn why we remain steadfast to that promise, and why we proudly live up to our slogan of "Healthy Horses".
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