"American Quarter Horses are the fastest horse in the world, and one of the fastest animals. They can race at speeds up to 55 mph. They can cover a quarter-mile in less than 21 seconds, starting from a flat-footed standstill. An American Quarter Horse is traditionally a short, stocky horse that is a specialized sprinter. They are the dragsters of the horse racing world. American Quarter Horse races are measured in yards. They run all-out at distances between 220 and 870 yards. The classic distance is 440 yards, or a quarter-mile, which is originally where the horse drew its name." [source http://www.aqha.com/racing/handicapping/firsttimers/thehorse.html]

Quarter horses are the fastest horses over a QUARTER of a mile. They do not have the endurance to go much farther, as the TB does. Elise Kempin: Because the TB can actually finish a race. This does not mean they are faster though. They go at a slower pace over a longer length of ground. Arabians, on the other hand, are not very fast. They have the endurance to cover a large amount of land, but it is usually at a trot.

Elise, you are very incorrect! Arabians and Thouroughbreds are good long race horses, like the Kentucky Derby. Quarter Horses can reach faster speeds than any others but can't go long distance. The races you are talking about are long, multi-lap races.

The fastest horse in the world can run 80 km an hour!

Because quarter horses can only maintain that speed at a short sprint. Thoroughbreds and Arabians or like the marathon runners of the horse world. Quarters are the spinters. If you race a quarter horse, Arabain, Thouroughbred in a quarter mile race the quarter horse will win almost every time, the thouroughbred at second, the arabian at third. If you race a at a mile and a quarter the thoroughbred first the arabian second the quarter third. If you race at 3-100 miles, the arabian first, and who knows whose second or third, could be either quarter or thoroughbred

The richest horse race purse was 2 million dollars, wich just happened about two weeks ago and it was a race here in California of Quarter horses. Again all three horse are fast horses in their specialized type of racing. There are also races of horses of crosses of these.

All of the results that I Have found in this project have been numbers based on the horse breed known as the thoroughbred. The thoroughbred breed is the common breed used in horse racing and is known to be one of the fastest breeds on the planet. After all my calculations have been completed, I have come to the conclusion that the average velocity for the fastest breed of horse (the thoroughbred) is about 17 m/s. This is a remarkable fact considering that 17 m/s is roughly 38 miles per hour. This is just as fast as a car yet it is an animal that is running this fast.

the fastest horse in the American Quarter Horse. they were bred for it. mixed from the blood of the Spaniard pony for the stockyness and their sturdier bone, and way back in their lines they do have thoroughbred blood in them for their looks. the endurance was bred out after their cross with morgans and a couple light drafts, then about thirty or fourty other breeds. now they are mixed with Paint horses, Appaloosas, and a few mustangs to reacheive the stockyness. i've raced quarterhorses for about eight years now round through kentucky and ride for a Hispanic gentleman in southern Texas from time to time. Lucifer's Trigger Finger was clocked at 51 miles per hour at the finish of a quarter mile race. the fastest i have ever witnessed has been 56 or 57 mph. a thoroughbred tops out at thirty, with exception of Secritariate who was clocked running a solid fifty mile race for a full mile and a half. that was due to an extra valve in his heart wich was two and a half the size of a normal horses', as well as his lungs. a regular thoroughbred trying to acheive the speed of the quarterhorse for the durration of one of their races would cause lung deflation, a heart attack, and their cannon bones would shatter. a quarter horses cannons bone is half an inch thicker than a Thoroughbreds and three quarters of an inch thicker than an Arabian.

Not as fast as the horses under my bonnet

A racking horse by the name of EZD Falcon Rowdy was clocked at 51 mph at Texas A&M in the 1970's. Granted, it was for a short burst. However, it was reported in Equus magazine at the time as being the fastest horse ever clocked. Trotting, pacing, cantering and galloping all have a suspension phase to the gait. A significant portion of the horse's energy goes into propelling it's body (and rider) upward. A rack has no up and down motion. All of the energy goes into forward motion. However, it is a complex gait and takes a lot of concentration on the horse's part. A horse with a talent for a singlefoot gait can put on a tremendous burst of speed. If you'd like to see film of this tremendous individual, search on EZD Falcon Rowdy on youtube. There is a good clip of him there, supposedly from the day he was clocked at Texas A&M. There are also several good clips of his sons. If you watch the Falcon Rowdy clip, and you aren't impressed by his speed, notice that he has so little bouncing motion that his rider is riding bareback at that speed. Further notice that his owner and rider John Demitris, has lost an arm to the shoulder and is riding this stallion one handed and bareback at that speed.

How can you even start to compare a thoroughbred racehorse to a Quarter-Pounder mule or whatever they are called? The thoroughbred racehorse is bred to race over distances from 5f (1 furlong = (220yards, 200metres)) to 2m (miles) 4f (furlongs) covering these distances in the fastest time possible. But in covering these distances they bred to use the speed sparingly to cover the appropriate distance. A thoroughbred can cruise to 55mph and faster if required in short race or to extend a lead in a long race, with the idea to kill off any other pace setters and maybe win the race from the front. The opposite of this scenario is a horse who covers the majority of the distance at a slower speed whilst quickening up the finish. I know I have only scraped the surface of how good the thoroughbred is, in this brief statement but comparing the thoroughbred to a horse that only covers a distance of 440 yards or 2 furlongs is an insult to everyone in the industry.

A quater horse isn't the fastest horse, nor paint, but thoroughbred.My father own a thoroughbred that used to be in races once every 15 days and 2 or 3 times every 8 days.He was in there for about 4 to 5 months and with that time reached a top speed of 73 miles per hour.

My "iron horse"(Harley Davidson) will do 120 mph.

Actually as an avid horse man and hopefullly a future jockey i have alot of experience with researching horses. the fastest horse is a quarter horse at an unbeleivably 55 MPH.