About Larry Thornton
Larry started with a serious interest in bloodlines in the mid 1960's, and a dream to become a Quarter Horse breeder. This intense interest in pedigrees and how to utilize this information has led to a long career as a prolific writer and student of Quarter Horse pedigrees and the genetics that can be found in those pedigrees. His professional career as a pedigree analyst and writer officially started when Larry wrote his first article for SPEEDHORSE in 1984. After that article, Larry became a regular contributor to SPEEDHORSE, writing the monthly column “Speedlines” and other features.
His interest in performance horses led him to write a series of articles for the National Cutting Horse Association’s CHATTER magazine on famous cutting horse bloodlines. This evolved into the popular monthly feature titled "The Working Lines" that was first published in SOUTHERN HORSEMAN in August of 1989. The Working Lines started appearing in THE WORKING HORSE magazine in 1997 and is now a co-feature with the “Mares With More” column in that magazine.
The Working Lines and Mares With More presents’ information and histories of top performance horses, both past and present. The information that appears in these articles is used by the readers as a learning and research tool for the performance horse industry.
The success of "The Working Lines" column lead to the publication of "THE WORKING LINES" and "THE WORKING LINES VOLUME II" books. These books are a compilation of some of the "Working Lines" columns. In book form, "The Working Lines" serves as a quick and handy reference for horsemen researching pedigrees.
Larry has been a contributor and/or consultant to several other outstanding equine books. They include "LEGENDS III" (Quo Vadis) and "LEGENDS IV" (Ed Echols), as well as the books DOC BAR and KING RANCH AND LITTLE PEPPY, THE LEGACY AND THE LEGEND.
"I credit any success I have as a pedigree researcher and consultant to the people I have interviewed," states Larry about his career in the pedigree world. "B. F. Phillips, Jr. was the first great horseman and breeder to give me an interview, and his input made my first article a success. By following with what B. F. Phillips started, I have been able to visit with many great horseman in our industry, giving me the opportunity to learn about some famous breeding programs, their great horses and their breeding philosophies."
One of the articles written by Larry while at SPEEDHORSE was titled “Designer Genes” that appeared in the November 1985 issue. The article described and explained the role of genetics and breeding systems horseman can use to breed their horses. The magazine’s publisher Connie Golden called this article the most important article to appear in SPEEDHORSE to that time. It was the information in articles like this one that brought Larry to the attention of people like Dr. Nena Winand at Cornell University.
Dr. Winand asked Larry to be her co-presenter at the 2006 AQHA Convention. Larry presented information on the breeding systems such as inbreeding, linebreeding and outcrosses that breeders can utilize to breed their horses. This presentation was attended by many of the nations leading breeders and was well received by those attending.
In 2008 Larry was asked to be a part of Kentucky International Equine Summit sponsored by Louisville University and the University of Kentucky. Horseman and geneticist from around the world attended this Summit. Larry was a Co-presenter on a panel discussing inbreeding as a breeding tool.
When Stacy Pigot was named Editor of SPEEDHORSE magazine this opened the door for Larry to write pedigree articles for this racing based magazine. This has lead to a series of pedigree related articles that have been well received by the readers of SPEEDHORSE magazine and allowed Larry to return to his writing roots.
Thornton has another interesting aspect to his life. Having graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Animal Science, he later finished the requirements to become an Agricultural Instructor. He is currently an Instructor at the Arkansas Tech Career Center in Russellville, Arkansas.
Despite the involvement with horses, the Thornton Family is the true highlight in his life. Larry and Judy have been married for 43 years and they reside in London, Arkansas. They have two children, Nancy and David. Nancy is married to Roger Snook and they have five children ... Kristen Leanne, Christopher, Michael, Kristen Brianna and Matthew. The Snook family lives near Capot, Arkansas. David resides in Memphis, Tennessee with his son Jackson.
Larry Thornton’s dream of being a Quarter Horse breeder got started with Quarter Horse pedigrees and the history that goes with them. That dream has grown to become a reality through his pedigree work with "The Working Lines" and now the Bloodlines-N-Pedigrees Newsletter.
View Larry Thornton on Horse Talk Live.
His interest in performance horses led him to write a series of articles for the National Cutting Horse Association’s CHATTER magazine on famous cutting horse bloodlines. This evolved into the popular monthly feature titled "The Working Lines" that was first published in SOUTHERN HORSEMAN in August of 1989. The Working Lines started appearing in THE WORKING HORSE magazine in 1997 and is now a co-feature with the “Mares With More” column in that magazine.
The Working Lines and Mares With More presents’ information and histories of top performance horses, both past and present. The information that appears in these articles is used by the readers as a learning and research tool for the performance horse industry.
The success of "The Working Lines" column lead to the publication of "THE WORKING LINES" and "THE WORKING LINES VOLUME II" books. These books are a compilation of some of the "Working Lines" columns. In book form, "The Working Lines" serves as a quick and handy reference for horsemen researching pedigrees.
Larry has been a contributor and/or consultant to several other outstanding equine books. They include "LEGENDS III" (Quo Vadis) and "LEGENDS IV" (Ed Echols), as well as the books DOC BAR and KING RANCH AND LITTLE PEPPY, THE LEGACY AND THE LEGEND.
"I credit any success I have as a pedigree researcher and consultant to the people I have interviewed," states Larry about his career in the pedigree world. "B. F. Phillips, Jr. was the first great horseman and breeder to give me an interview, and his input made my first article a success. By following with what B. F. Phillips started, I have been able to visit with many great horseman in our industry, giving me the opportunity to learn about some famous breeding programs, their great horses and their breeding philosophies."
One of the articles written by Larry while at SPEEDHORSE was titled “Designer Genes” that appeared in the November 1985 issue. The article described and explained the role of genetics and breeding systems horseman can use to breed their horses. The magazine’s publisher Connie Golden called this article the most important article to appear in SPEEDHORSE to that time. It was the information in articles like this one that brought Larry to the attention of people like Dr. Nena Winand at Cornell University.
Dr. Winand asked Larry to be her co-presenter at the 2006 AQHA Convention. Larry presented information on the breeding systems such as inbreeding, linebreeding and outcrosses that breeders can utilize to breed their horses. This presentation was attended by many of the nations leading breeders and was well received by those attending.
In 2008 Larry was asked to be a part of Kentucky International Equine Summit sponsored by Louisville University and the University of Kentucky. Horseman and geneticist from around the world attended this Summit. Larry was a Co-presenter on a panel discussing inbreeding as a breeding tool.
When Stacy Pigot was named Editor of SPEEDHORSE magazine this opened the door for Larry to write pedigree articles for this racing based magazine. This has lead to a series of pedigree related articles that have been well received by the readers of SPEEDHORSE magazine and allowed Larry to return to his writing roots.
Thornton has another interesting aspect to his life. Having graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Animal Science, he later finished the requirements to become an Agricultural Instructor. He is currently an Instructor at the Arkansas Tech Career Center in Russellville, Arkansas.
Despite the involvement with horses, the Thornton Family is the true highlight in his life. Larry and Judy have been married for 43 years and they reside in London, Arkansas. They have two children, Nancy and David. Nancy is married to Roger Snook and they have five children ... Kristen Leanne, Christopher, Michael, Kristen Brianna and Matthew. The Snook family lives near Capot, Arkansas. David resides in Memphis, Tennessee with his son Jackson.
Larry Thornton’s dream of being a Quarter Horse breeder got started with Quarter Horse pedigrees and the history that goes with them. That dream has grown to become a reality through his pedigree work with "The Working Lines" and now the Bloodlines-N-Pedigrees Newsletter.
View Larry Thornton on Horse Talk Live.