The Standardbred stands 14 to 17 hands that is the same as  56 to 58 inches from the ground to their shoulders. A full grown adult Standardbred weighs around 900-1,200 pounds. They are fast  trotters. They are tall and have long legs. Most Standardbreds are dark colored. They are brown, black, chestnut ( reddish brown ), and  bay ( reddish brown with black legs, mane, and  tail). A few are gray or roan ( white hairs mixed with dark gray ).

 
The Standardbred is the best harness horse. A harness horse is any horse that pulls a something. They usually pull buggies. The breed  was developed in the United States. They have the ability to travel quickly by just trotting. A horse only can be a  Standardbred only if  it meets the Standardbred speed.  They have strong legs and hard hooves. More Standardbreds pull  buggies and racing carts then any horse in the U.S.
Driving a horse with a buggy is different then riding a horse. A buggy horse don't wear a saddle. They wear a harness. Straps form the harness attach to the buggy so the horse can pull it. The driver sits in the  buggy. The driver controls the horse with long, leather straps called lines. The lines attach to the bit. A bit is a piece of metal put in the horse's mouth to signal it to stop, start, and turn. There are large and medium-sized  harness horses. The large one are called draft horses. They are very strong and can pull heavy loads. But they are not fast. Medium-sized horses are better for pulling buggies. Their faster that draft horses.
The Standardbreds history started more than 200 years age in England. Lord Grosvenor had  a great Thoroughbred named Mambrino. His horse could trot faster then some horses could gallop.

In 1780, Mambrino was bred  with another Thoroughbred mare. A mare is a female horse. She gave birth to a gray colt. Lord Grosvenor named him Messenger. Messenger was not a harness horse he was stared being a racehorse. Messenger retried from racing
when he was eight years old. His owner sold him to a man in the United States. In 1788 he arrived in the U.S. Messenger lived the rest of his life in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. During his retirement he was a riding horse. Messenger died when he was 28 years old in 1808. He was buried at Long Island, New York.

All horses have four gaits. These are the walk, tort, canter, and gallop. Walking is the slowest gait. The trot is the next fastest. Horses can go a  long time when they are trotting. The canter is faster then the trot but slower then the gallop. The gallop is the fastest gait. But they become tired when they canter or gallop.  At a trot a healthy horse can go many miles without  getting tired. When trotting the horse  moves it feet in a certain way. One foot moves at the same time as its opposite back foot moves. Some horses can learn another gait called 
the pace.  They get the ability to pace from their parents. Those that know how to pace pass their ability to their foals. ht pace is different from the trot. The  front foot and back foot on the same side moves at the same time. The pace is faster then the 
then the trot but slower then the canter.

Around 1870, some breeders started to register their trotting and pacing horses. They wanted to keep track of the horses pedigrees. A pedigree is the horse's family tree. 
Standardbred become  the top harness horses in the world. They won  more races than any other horse. Soon they were the only horse to race in harness racetracks of North America. But not all Standardbreds were racehorses. Hamiltonian's son Dexter broke a record in 1860s. He trotted  a mile in two min. and 17 seconds. Robert Bonner bought Dexter for $25,000 . He refused to race him. Standardbreds were bred to be faster and faster.

The most famous horse was Dan Patch. He was born no April 28,1896 at Oxford Indiana. He paced his first race on August 30, 1900. He won every race but one. A New York man bought him for $20,000. He set more records than any other horses in history. Once he broke two records on the same day.

In 1903, Morion Savage was looking for a racehorse. A friend saw Dan Patch at Kansas City Missouri. He could not wait to tell Savage about Dan Patch. Savage paid $60,000 to buy Don Patch. he lived at Savage's hug fancy barn in Minnesota. Savage hired a trainer to handle Dan Patch. The trainer was Harry Hersey. Dan

Patch never raced again. People paid to see Dan Patch pace. Dan Patch set a world pacing record of one min. 55 seconds for a mile in Lexington, Kentucky in 1905. He paced again at the same track in 1908. This time he almost broke that record. But he had problems. He was pacing behind another
Horse named cobweb. They went tree- quarters of a mile in one min. 25 seconds. That was faster then any horse had ever paced. They had a quarter mile to go. Suddenly Cobweb stared to slow down. Cobweb was hurt. Dan Patch slowed down to stay behind Cobweb. Hersey who was driving the cart Dan Patch was pulling. He had to turn Dan toward the outside to get around Cobweb. Dan kept going but he lost time and didn’t break his record. People wrote songs about Dan Patch they even had a dance step.

Huge crowds came to watch him pace and he received $21,000. He traveled the country and earned more then $3 million during his life. He traveled until he was 15. Dan Patch died on July 14, 1916.

Today’s Standarbreds can do a mile in a whole min. faster then horses of century’s age.

Harness races take place on an oval racetrack. The track is one mile around. People watch the races from bleacher around the track. The horses pull two-wheeled carts called sulkies. Drivers wear brightly colored outfits.  

The horses don’t line up in gates like Thoroughbreds. The horses and sulkies ride onto the truck drivers slowly in front of them while the horses take off. Standardbreds start racing at the ages of two or three. They can race for 10 years or more.
Buying, training, and caring for racehorses are expensive. Most owners keep only the horses that win. If the horse is to old or to slow so more owners sell them.

Many people think Standardbred is only racehorses. People think they are not good riding horses.

  The Standardbred is a favorite horses for the Amish people. They can pull buggies at 10 miles per hour. A Standardbred is a sturdy horse. In top condition Standardbreds can trot farther then any other breed.

In 1800s, when Standardbreds were retried many people bought them. But when cars were invented only Amish people bought them. Today there are not that many Amish people.

 

There are rescue groups that find homes for retired racehorses they save many horses form slaughter this way. 

 

 

 

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