Some of us know the breeding of our horses and some of us don’t. Either way, anybody who has the slightest interest in breeding will find the All Breed Pedigree website pretty fascinating: allbreedpedigree.com

The online database contains a vast bank of pedigree details. If you know your horse’s breeding, search for its parents. Marina’s mare, Jenny, is by the Irish Sport Horse, High Roller, while her old star, Teldel, is a blue-blooded Thoroughbred by the American Champion 2-year-old and Breeders Cup Juvenile winner, Gulch. Tanya’s Al is by the Dutch Warmblood, Aldato.

If you know its breeding and its parents are in the database, you can create an entry for your own horse. The sire (Prince of Thieves) and maternal grandsire (Pride of Shaunlara) of Libby’s Fenway were already in the database. By first creating an entry for Fenway’s mother (Aravis), it was possible to enter Fenway himself.

In the case of Connemaras and Irish Draughts, it’s fascinating to see how often Thoroughbreds and Arabs have been used to improve the breed. This is very clear from Fenway’s pedigree and also from Rachel and Libby’s Connemara, Doolin. Just click on one of the ancestors a few generations further back and see the extended family tree from that point. Look a little further at Al’s father’s pedigree and you’ll see that the Dutch used exactly the same methods for improving their Warmbloods.

And if the family tree isn’t enough, check out the drop-down menu on the top left of the site, Reports. Most of the options cost money to view but the option at the bottom, Photos, is available for free. Here you can see photographs of any of the ancestors that have a star against their name in the family tree. Even if you have no personal link to a horse, it’s worth looking at a few just to see the old photographs and drawings.