In my lifetime (and as far as I know at least all through the 20th Century), “Thoroughbred” has meant a specific breed, not “purebred.” As to heavy horses, to the best of my knowledge, a heavyweight hunter is not the same as a “heavy horse.” A “heavy horse” is one of the draft breeds. A heavyweight hunter might be a cross between a draft and a lighter breed (or possibly a purebred Irish Draught/Draft or other draft breed). Most of the horse books I grew up on were written in the 20th Century so I don’t know how these terms were used in the 19th century and earlier; I do know that in “Black Beauty” he and Ginger were not of the usual tall carriage horse breed; they had more “racing” blood. He does not say “Thoroughbred” IIRC.
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It is sad, and it’s also stupid if the owners keep letting the trainers get away with this. Unless the owners don’t want to ride their own horses.
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it’s a weird culture around here, that the riders are sold the package of training rides and perpetual handholding.
I mean, I can see it, when your barn commute is 1h each way, and if you are lucky you can see your horse on the weekend (once?) you need a professional to keep it legged up.
The rest? There should be a bigger market for steeds that don’t kill you when they only get ridden every other day. Progress is of course slower this way.
But it isn’t as if the 20 minute ride does a lot for the conditioning of the horse either.
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I meant more like how sometimes I think there are non-horsey people who sometimes say “thoroughbred” to mean “purebred.” But that wouldn’t really make sense in a horse book, come to think of it. (unless it was written or maybe edited by a non-horse person.)
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‘Thoroughbred’ is an awfully odd word in terms of use. Right up through the 1960’s, ‘thoroughbred’ in dog breeding, simply meant of high quality. I’ve also hit references to it in relationship to women in literature from the pre WWII era…which actually is not as sexist as it sounds. Originally, the 2nd definition of thoroughbred meant a high class person or animal or thing.
So you could have an editor using thoroughbred in that sense. Capitalized, it would usually indicated the actual breed registry. Uncapitalized, a thoroughbred horse is simply one with heart and bone. I.e. it doesn’t quit.
But, honestly, I still think that picture simply looks like a solid, older style Thoroughbred of the breed. With actual feet.
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The book from which the photos were taken was definitely by a horsewoman! 
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I doubt Margaret Cabell Self would have let her editor get away with a misuse of “Thoroughbred.” Even in these days some horse people (who should know better) don’t capitalize the T when writing of the breed.
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