Page 42 - July 2016

Oliver Cromwell took control of the British Commonwealth of England in 1649 during the English Revolution, breaking up the holdings of the monarch and the spread of the blood of the Irish Hobby horse to Europe until 1660 when King Charles II (pictured here) regained control and changed the breeding philosophy of the Royal Stud.
... Have you ever wondered, where did it all start?
Foundation sire Eclipse, shown in this painting by George Stubbs, is sired by Marske, by Squirt, by Bartlets Childers, by the Darley Arabian. Bartlets Childers is from the immediate family of Spanker, who is thought to be the first true Thoroughbred.
Peter McCue, the foundation sire of the South Texas Quarter Horse family, hails from the line of Sir Archy, a major contributor to the American Quarter Horse and who traces back to Spanker.
speed, and many of them for their “ambling gate.” Long distant racing was not the norm during this time. So, we have a breed that you might say was the beginning of short horse racing that we see in the modern Quarter Horse.
Mackay-Smith used a description written by Thomas Blunderville in the early text
The Foure Chiefest Offices Belonging To Horsemanship, London. Mackay-Smith used a 1609 reprint of the 1565 edition as his source of information to show the conformation of the Irish Hobby.
To quote the Blunderville description as Mackay-Smith reprinted it in his book, “The Irish Hobby is a prettie fine Horse, having
a good head & a bodie indifferently well proportioned, saving that many of them be slender amd pin buttocked [prominent hip bones], they be tender mouthed, nimble, light, pleasant, and apt to be taught, and for the most part they are amblers. And therefore very meet to the saddle, and to travel by the way: yea, and the Irish men both darts and with light spear, do use to skirmish with them in the field. And many of them do prove top that use verie wel, by means they be so light and swift.” Mackay-Smith would write that this description made the Irish Hobby a quarter type horse.
The popularity of the Irish Hobby led to not only a demand for the breed in England and Scotland, but also worldwide. The Irish Hobby was exported to places like France and Italy. This success led to the true Irish Hobby becoming extinct in Ireland. Today, the main remnant of the breed is found in the Irish Draught Horse and the Connemara Pony.
One of the early entries about the Irish Hobby in England comes with King Henry VIII and his Royal Stud. King Henry VIII, a sportsman who reigned England from 1509 to 1547, had a racing stable of Hobbies and
he was a part of the movement to export
the Irish Hobby to Europe. The influence
of the Irish Hobby would continue from there to become the base of the English racing establishment, with speed being a key ingredient.
Move forward to 1649 when King Charles I was beheaded and a faction under Oliver Cromwell took control to the British Commonwealth of England, Ireland and Scotland in what is termed the English Revolution. Cromwell would rule England from 1653 to 1658 as the “Lord Protector
of the Commonwealth.” The Cromwell rule brought about the breakup of the holdings of the monarchy and its supporters spreading the blood of these horses to others.
Then in 1660, King Charles II was able to regain control of the monarchy and this brought about a change in the breeding philosophy of the Royal Stud and the other breeders. King Charles II wanted to develop a horse with more stamina to insure a better prepared British Army. This gave rise to the heat and distance racing that formed our modern Thoroughbred racing.
The influence of the Hobby in the American Colonies should not be left out. The development of the Colonial Quarter Running Horse (the forerunner of the American Quarter Horse) in the American Colonies included the Hobby blood. One of the first imports took place when Sir William Berkley, the Royal Governor of Virginia,
in 1666 imported from Ireland a Hobby stallion and four Hobby mares. Thus, the Irish Hobby can be considered a part of the foundation of the American Thoroughbred and the American Quarter Horse.
The Helmsley Stud (c 1548-1687) was a famous English stud farm built on the Irish Hobby. The Helmsley Stud was developed by the Rutland Family in Yorkshire, England.
40 SPEEDHORSE, July 2016
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