Heavy Horses



Real strength comes from those who in front of the mighty use a velvet glove. Something i have noticed. The smaller the sentient being the less respect people tend to have. Too often you see people pulling & dragging little ponies around but not often do you see them doing the same with a

1 ton animal attached at the end of the lead rope. Size should not make any difference. Consideration comes regardless of the sentient being’s size. When dealing with the heavies, somehow the majority of horsemen i have came across tend to dig somewhere else than coercive methods for answers. This is one of the reasons i have always been drawn to the world of heavies. Not to say that the wisdom of an old man is an attraction!

A team of European champions!

Last week-end, in the small Provencal town of Chateaurenard, a heavy horses demonstration of ploughing, logging and driving took place. Chateaurenard is famous for the world longest in-line driven chart. In 2010, 205 heavy horses were driven in-line. The little film below shows a smaller version of it which took place two weeks ago during a training session. 14 Comtois are in-line in this film. They started at a walk and progressed to the canter. It was phenomenal, earth shattering literally. For best effect, crank up the volume.

 

The 9 breeds of heavy French horses were also represented.

Ardonnais stand between 160 and 162 cms

Auxois measure between 160 and 170 cms

Boulonnais
80% grey, 10% Chestnuts & 10% Black

 

Bretons stand between 155 and 163 cms

Breton

A pair of Comtois at work. The turn at the end of the plough
was very nicely manoeuvred with calm & precision. Bravo!

 

Cob Normand stands between 158 and 171 cms.
It is the lightest of the French heavies.
Often seen in mounted police force.

Representing the Percheron breed, i let you enjoy this beautiful dressage moment between Manolo and his 1 toner stallion, Tao. Tao was a present from the Harras Nationaux, the French national Stud.

 

 

Poitevin Mulassier stands between 160 and 175 cms.
It originates from the Poitou area of France.
Often crossed with Baudet du Poitou to produce heavy working mules.

Trait Du Nord stands betwwen 168 and 170 cms. 

These days, heavy horses are used in sport & leisure driving, logging (34.5 million cubic metres of wood are cleared in France per year of which 50,000 cubic metres or 0.15% of the total volume cleared by horses.), traction (A horse can provide a maximum force of a value equal to its own weight for 15 seconds. One horse power (HP) equals 35kg of force which is the average force developed by a heavy horse 7 hours a day, 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year.), ploughing (Modern time is preoccupied by the respect of its environment: less pollution, respectful of the soil and more economical over small areas, the horse is the most modern tool there is!), urban draft horse (73% of the French (SOFRES survey - National stud farms - 2003) would like to see horses return to their town to provide physical therapy for the disabled, to monitor parks and rubbish, to offer training to delinquents to learn self-control and discipline, to offer tours of the town and to assist the police force. Around 30 French towns and communities already use one or more horses.) and in vineyard work.
For the horse & wine lovers of this world, horses are more and more used in vineyard work hooray! Horses first made a comeback to the vineyard as ‘main assistant’ (to bring buyers into the vineyards and perform demonstrations of ‘old-style’ wine harvesting), but the wine growers quickly realised there was a notable improvement to the health of the vineyard. Horses are synonymous with quality. In Burgundy, 11 service providers work with horses on different domains.

A discovery for me, Rose Grapefruit!
It is a rose wine with grapefruit sirop. In France we call it
Rose Pamplemouse...Delicious! 

Vincent introduced me to his friend Dago who let me drive his 800kg Comtois. This was a very first for me. i drove the horse with feel in the reins and voice. An amazing first experience of driving a horse and to feel how responsive the horse was to the weight I put into my reins.

Dago, the 800kgs Comtois & the chart i drove.
Notice the 5 kids at the back. They were there when i drove...no pressure!  

A multitude of different horse shoe on display on this table.

This next picture shows a heavy horse shoe used when a horse works on very soft ground. This is a front foot shoe. The North side of the picture shows the toe side of the shoe. The enclave at the South side of the picture would stick out. This way the horse would walk on a larger surface and therefore avoid sinking too deep into the ground.

A shoe made to give a larger platform for soft ground.

Another team with  Comtois.



In-line carriage will have the strongiest animal immediately in front of the carriage.
Because in a turn, it would be up to this horse to pull the whole weight of the carriage for a few second.
 

A team of 3 Comtois ploughing.