diff --git a/start b/start
index f3a85e433..473bd3e05 100755
--- a/start
+++ b/start
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ function validate_after_copy_defaults() {
 function start() {
   echo "Starting Stellar Quickstart"
 
+  # Extract stellar-core version for horizon configuration
+  export STELLAR_CORE_VERSION=$(stellar-core version 2>/dev/null | head -1 | xargs)
+
   echo "versions:"
   echo "  quickstart: $REVISION"
   echo "  xdr:"
@@ -502,6 +505,7 @@ function init_horizon() {
   cat << EOF >> etc/horizon.env
 export CAPTIVE_CORE_CONFIG_PATH=$HORIZON_CAPTIVE_CORE_CFG
 export CAPTIVE_CORE_STORAGE_PATH=$HZHOME/captive-core
+export STELLAR_CORE_VERSION=$STELLAR_CORE_VERSION
 EOF
 
   run_silent "chown-horizon" chown -R stellar:stellar .
diff --git a/tests/test_core_version.go b/tests/test_core_version.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..694c0207e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_core_version.go
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"log"
+	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"time"
+)
+
+const timeout = 3 * time.Minute
+
+type Root struct {
+	StellarCoreVersion string `json:"core_version"`
+}
+
+func main() {
+	startTime := time.Now()
+
+	for {
+		time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
+		logLine("Waiting for Horizon to start and checking core_version")
+
+		if time.Since(startTime) > timeout {
+			logLine("Timeout")
+			os.Exit(-1)
+		}
+
+		resp, err := http.Get("http://localhost:8000")
+		if err != nil {
+			logLine(err)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		var root Root
+		decoder := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body)
+		err = decoder.Decode(&root)
+		if err != nil {
+			logLine(err)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if root.StellarCoreVersion != "" {
+			logLine("SUCCESS: core_version is populated: " + root.StellarCoreVersion)
+			os.Exit(0)
+		} else {
+			logLine("core_version is still empty")
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func logLine(text interface{}) {
+	log.Println("\033[33;1m[core_version_test]\033[0m", text)
+}
\ No newline at end of file