EDITORIAL
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SO today is August 1. It is a day that is recognised as the horses' birthday.
But does anyone else have a nag-ging question as to why August 1 is, in fact, the day that the birth of all horses is celebrated?
It is not that all horses are born on this day.
That would be just way too coincidental. And no it did not come about because someone was horsing around.
There is a somewhat logical answer to this one birthday fits all phil-horse-sophy.
Horses are raced according to age and in order to alleviate confusion when entering horses in races, their date of birth is deemed to be on August 1 of the year in which they were born.
Again it could be argued that any date could be applied to this way of thinking so why is August 1 the chosen date?
Once more there is a logical answer.
The choice of date has to do with the breeding season.
Breeders generally try and breed their horses in September or October.
This means that new foals will be born as soon after August 1 as possible (the gestation period for horses being 11 months).
This way the horse will be as mature as possible when it begins racing.
The concept of one birthday for all is equally beneficial for other equine activities.
There are many age classes in showing (such as the Sydney Royal) where the horse's age is required to enter.
That date is August 1, no questions asked.
The same applies for young horse classes in dressage.
Needless to say, today is the day all horses can kick up their hooves for a birthday celebration.
And based on the above mentioned breeding practice, we can expect to see a lot more foals in paddocks over the next few weeks.