Some of The World’s Greatest and Extraordinary Horses

Here are some of the world’s most impressive horses. And here is my favourite one, his name is Luscombe Nordram, and he stands 20.1 hands high, weighing about the same as a small car he is truly a giant, but there’s more he is only five so is still growing, he won’t be fully grown until the age of six or seven. That is going to be one BIG horse.

And here is another giant among horses, he’s name is Poe and he stands at 20.2 hands high, and weighs 200 stone, he eats two bales of hay a day, 10lb of grain and drinks 75 gallons of water, I believe Poe is 10 years old so has no more growing to do, just as well really he must cost a heck of a lot to keep.

Here is something a bit different to the ones you have just see, his name is Cigar, ring any bells if not let me explain. Cigar is a famous racehorse with a breathtaking consecutive win streak of 16 races, he was foaled on the 18th of April, 1990, and is now retired, he retired as the leading money earner in Thoroughbred history, he’s earnings were a grand total of $9,999,813, now that’s a racehorse.

Now here’s an odd one I think you can probably guess what is special about her. That’s right her tail is the longest in the world, her name is Summer Breeze and with her amazing 12ft 6in long tail, she is recognised by the Guinness Book of World records as having the longest tail in the world, she is 11 years old, her mane is also very long, but had to be controlled to stop her chewing it with her food, she must take a long time to get ready for a show.

And last but not lest Einstein, one of the world’s smallest horses, he might be small but he is just as famous as the others. Einstein is just 20inches tall, and is apparently the smallest horse ever recorded to survive.

Einstein is so amazing because he doesn’t seem to have any characteristics of a normal dwarf, and is just a very small horse, Einstein cannot be officially recognised as the world’s smallest horse until he is 4 years old, but his owners believe he has stopped growing, so it is just a matter of time.

Well that is about all for now hope you enjoyed seeing all those very special horses.

Heavy Horses and What They've Done For Us

(Shire mare & foal)

A heavy horse is a large horse bred to perform hard / heavy work such as ploughing and farm labour. The heavy horse is used today for shows, forestry work, leisure riding, driving, and some are still used for supplying breweries and on farms.
A Shire Horse (heavy horse) holds the world record for the biggest horse, he stood at 21.2 ½ hands high, his name was Samson. Heavy horses are mostly quite docile, they have upright shoulders, a short back with strong hindquarters and almost all have feathers.
The Belgium Draft horse (heavy horse) is supposedly the strongest of the heavy horses, it is also probably my favourite. Sadly the Belgium Draft is still used for meat in some parts of the world. None of these photographs are of a Belgium Draft.

(Suffolk Punch)

It is a common mistake that heavy horses are just modern destriers (Medieval war horses) but it is horses like the Friesian who were the destriers, although it is quite likely that the heavy horse has some medieval war horse in it. But I am not an expert on it anyway.
Oh and the part about what they did for us: heavy horses have helped with farm work for centuries, transporting goods, supplying breweries, they helped to build some of the most impressive buildings and they helped in our wars too. Over half a million heavy horses were used in World War 1 supporting the military effort.
Anyway I am just about finished boring you now but I thought it was quite interesting.
The photographs are from a heavy horse show.

(Shire horse)

Oh and I have soaked the bonfire with the hose pipe now all I can do is see if they have re-lit it tomorrow.