Drays On Show

It had been almost a year since I last saw the Wadworth shire horses, so when I heard that they were going to be on show at the Pheasant Carvery in Chippenham I put a note in my diary. Heavy rain and thunderstorms had been forecast, but after a couple of light showers earlier on it turned into a fine, sunny day.

There had been some changes in the interim. Two of the horses keepers had been made redundant and changes in distribution had meant that one of the three shires had had to go, and so the beautiful Prince had been deemed the weakest link. He is now in semi-retirement at Weston's Cider in Much Marcle, Herefordshire, in a field that he shares with another shire horse called Ben, and can be visited there.

Monty and Max now share daily delivery duties around Devizes each weekday, and go to shows and public events. They are now the only two in the country who are both working horses and show horses, though there is a pair in Tadcaster who are at work delivering for Samuel Smith's.

Monty is the champion, having been the winner at shows for the last six consecutive years, and is 18 hands tall. Max is two inches taller than that, and if he raises his head is well over nine foot tall. Both were in their highly polished best. Their working tackle is identical but less gleaming, but also gets regularly polished. I had a long chat with the lady who was minding Max, and took a lot of pictures.

Despite their enormous size, their demeanour means that children are not afraid of them and several walked up to say hello and stroke the gentle giants.

L.
19.6.2014 (1631 hr)

Blip #1296
Consecutive Blip #158
Day #1535

Alternatives:
Max
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The Wadworth Shires At The Pheasant Carvery, 7 June 2014

Lenses: Pentax 17-70 mm, Pentax 35 mm Macro, Sigma 70-300 mm

Shire Horses series
Chippenham series

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Jonathan Wilson - Dear Friend (2013)