Reply form It all began 60 million years ago. For us, the horse's line of ancestors commences with Eohippus, although this strange creature has also been evolving from a huge line of previous ancestors, who have their origin many millions of years ago in microscopically small, single-cell organisms. Except for their preference for vegetarian food, nothing much would point to the fact that all hoofed animals would evolve from these condylarths. They were about the size of cats, and like all primitive mammals had five toes to each foot. Most mammals reduced their number of toes during the course of their evolution, where their centre toe out of these five was the larger one. Eventually, the most recent species of horse, called Equus, evolved, still counting amongst it all equids alive today, e.g. horses, donkeys and zebras. This happened some five million years ago. However, another inconceivable period of time had to pass before the vital partnership between horse and human began. The invention of horseshoes meant a thrilling advance for mankind, as it was only the different types of horseshoe which enabled us to turn horses into an enduring living engine and guarantor for the world's economy. The invention of horseshoes meant a thrilling advance for mankind, as it was only the different types of horseshoe which enabled us to turn horses into an enduring living engine and guarantor for the world's economy.     We always make an effort to keep horses healthy with the help of the latest medical-technological units and specialist knowledge. Aided by our laser thermo scanner, we can precisely contain any lameness and infectious diseases in a painless manner, so that any diagnosed results can be treated quickly and accurately. There have been breeders associations for some 100 years now, with complete stud programs for all types of horse breeds, including ponies and small horse species. An important change concerning the purer breeds only occurred early in the 18th century though, when the foundations for the thoroughbred horse were laid in England. With the help of Arabian horses, which had been a real source of purification for centuries, highly targeted selection was employed to create new standards, leading to undreamt-of, optimum and many-faceted possibilities. There is no other country able to boast to have had as vital an influence on today's horse breeding traditions as England did. All of todayís warm-blooded breeds were created with considerable participation of the English thoroughbred. There would be no horse breeding for sporting purposes at all without thoroughbreds. Dressage, show jumping and military horses from England are almost all of them half-breeds, with their mothers being mares from a warm-blooded lineage and their fathers being thoroughbred studs, or pure thoroughbreds. And these horses are good enough to join in with the top of the world's best.   The expression "thoroughbred" nowadays means horses listed in internationally acknowledged stud books, whose paternal and maternal ancestors were first listed in their entirety in the "General Stud Book" first published in England 1793. German breeding from ca. 1880. The expression "Vollblut" (e.g. "full blooded") commonly used in Germany is not quite clear-cut. The French expression is "pur sang" (pure-blooded, unmixed), the English one "thoroughbred" (e.g. thoroughly bred). Responsible for this breed were the glorious three, "Byerly Turk", "Darlay Arabian" and "Godolphin Arabian", which are recognised worldwide nowadays as being the progenitors of the thoroughbred breed. A horse's speed as a flight animal has fascinated mankind from days of old, finding expression in tournaments, competitions, and especially in horseracing. Horseracing did not solely serve for enjoyment purposes though. It constituted a selective process to determine the fastest and toughest horses allowed to pass on these prominent characteristics in their role as breeding animals.