Photo by Joey Quiroga

Photographer Joey Quiroga explores the beauty of the upper Texas coast through his lens

Galveston’s West End once was known for farming and ranching. Some vestiges remain today. Photographer Joey Quiroga captured this image of an American quarter horse near 10 Mile and Ostermeyer roads.

The American Quarter Horse is one of the oldest recognized breeds of horses in the United States, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

The breed originated in about the 1660s as a cross between native horses of Spanish origin used by the earliest colonists and English horses imported to Virginia from about 1610.

By the late 17th century, these horses were being raced successfully over quarter-mile courses in Rhode Island and Virginia, and hence received the name quarter horses.