(First published in Australian Performance Horse Year Book 2010).
ARTICLE /PHOTOS: James Vereker
Clydesdale & Heavy
Horses 2010
A heritage festival at
the National Equestrian Centre
The “Commonwealth Clydesdale Horse Society - Victorian Branch”
hosts this annual showcase featuring led, ridden, harness and working horse events.
The spacious green fields of the “National Equestrian Centre”
at Werribee Park, near Melbourne, resound with the pounding hooves of a
super-tonnage of horseflesh over the weekend of the 27th & 28th February.
Here a fine gathering of over 60 heavy horses representing breeds of
Clydesdale, Percheron, Suffolk Punch, Gypsy Cob, Friesian, Shire and Fjord
Horse are on public display including the ‘World’s Tallest Horse.’
A seven--year old Shire gelding nicknamed ‘Noddy’ stands at
20.2hh and weighs one-and-a-half ton. Owner, Jane Greenman, acquired him
through a quirk of fate: “I have a friend in Queensland,” Jane says. “I told
her to ‘send me down something fluffy’, never expecting to get a foal that just
kept growing and growing. He’s outgrown all the harness I have.” The festival
was a rare outing for ‘Luscombe Nodram’ whose size makes him hard to float. The
well-conformed, dappled-grey, looks like he could spend a few years pulling a
plough, if you could afford the harness, or double in medieval movies as a
crusading knight’s war horse. Entering his maiden “Led Shire Gelding” class and
capably handled by Andrew Marriott, he was sashed “Reserve Champion”, next to the
winner - ‘Southern Cross Nickolas’.
One of the most captivating sights in the show ring is seeing
the rhythmic power of a heavy horse - with feathered legs - in motion. The
dedication of handlers is to be admired for washing those fabled legs and the
ritual of drying them in mounds of sawdust by hand. Decorative grooming, such
as a plaited mane braided with coloured yarn, is used to enhance the arch to be
dressed with a row of ornamental standards or flags. These are fashioned from
raffia, in bi or tricolour, based initially on heraldry. Docked or plaited tails
are adorned with stylish rosettes, ribbons and ‘cocktail accessories’ to rival
a hair salon – all adding to the romantic appeal of the heavy horse. A prime
example of the groom’s craft was the “Supreme Champion Heavy Horse”, ‘Aarunga
Flash Nicholas’, a three-year old Clydesdale stallion, superbly presented by AT
Marriott & Sons - winners of many festival awards.
Traditionally, tails were plaited daily to avoid mud and dirt
according to the season and weather. Summer tails were partially plaited with a
length left to swish and keep the flies at bay – a fact sometimes forgotten by
modern-day adherents.
The pinnacle of appeal for the heavy horse enthusiast is to
see horses working in show harness. Winkers in black leather, sometimes called
‘blinkers’, while compulsory for safety reasons, feature engraved or inlaid badges
and coloured browbands with chrome clinchers. Handsome collars are decked with ‘crown
plates’ fringed with tassels and ornamented with chrome conches featuring
hearts, ovals and crescents. They were once used to prevent chaff falling
behind the collar, as they are attached to the top of the hames. Interestingly,
horse brasses hanging below the collar with a long tassel - in bygone days - were
meant to ward off the dreaded ‘evil-eye’.
These resplendent “Clydesdale Leaders” pulling vehicles in
teams, appear like centurions at the head of a legion of heavy horses. They command
our attention with the high-lift of their massive hooves, bearing the weight of
their own tonnage and traction of the trailing vehicle. While working in unison,
well-schooled teams perform reining patterns and manoeuvre to splay left and
right, obeying the commands and reins controlled by the deft hands of
experienced drivers.
Preparing a harness horse for the show ring is a large
commitment and expensive, as a set of full show harness can cost owners in
excess of $10,000. The “Supreme Harness Exhibit” was awarded to an outstanding four-horse
team of Clydesdales, pulling a lorry driven by Andrew Marriott, with an
estimated $50,000 outfit.
It is a delight to see ridden Clydesdales demonstrating their
collected gaits and surprisingly, ‘compacted power’ in galloping style. “Champion
Ridden Heavy Horse”, ‘Myrtle Park Gilbert’, a Clydesdale gelding ridden by
Libby Gilbert, is a perfect example. A sense of theatrical excitement is
released, as a normally grounded heavy beast, takes off in animated motion –
airborne with feathered legs and mane swishing to and fro - to the gleeful
disbelief of onlookers amused at their agility.
The harness horse was once a familiar sight on farms, pulling
implements to till, sow and reap, as well as haul produce hitched to a variety
of lorries and wagons, along country lanes to railways for market. A trailable
mower driven by Lyle Drayton with three Clydesdale-crosses in-hand – ‘Darcy’, ‘Princess’
and ‘Rose’ - won the “Champion Farm Turnout”. The class was judged by Noel
Wiltshire, an expert harness-maker and outfitter. Farm implements included a 1940s
‘Munro’ fertiliser spreader cart and a shave plough. An array of vehicles incorporated
a spring cart, dray and a four-wheeled lorry pulled by a trio or ‘unicorn’ of
horses – two in the pole and one in the lead. The 1901 lorry was inherited by Dave
Cockroft from his grandfather and driven by keen reinsman, Robert Edwards.
Until the 1960s, the hoof beats of delivery horses were
expectant sounds on our town and city streets, heralding the rounds of an ‘apron-clad’
service brigade. The milkman tinkering glass bottles, the baker offering crusty
high-tin loaves, or ‘the iceman that cometh’ bearing Hessian-swathed blocks of
ice and even, the ‘night cart’ passing in the cloister of darkness, are the
forgotten sounds of yesteryear – only recollected through such a heritage
festival.
Spectators could view the rounds of the “Modern Dairy” cart,
laden with cream cans advertising “Pasteurised Milk”, or the static display of
“Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses” cart offering “Pies & Cakes” and “Finer Foods
Since 1911”. Delivery drivers were awarded for best ‘Lady’, Barb Ford;
‘Novice’, Mark Marriott and ‘Junior’, Clare Marriott.
The pride of delivery horses has long been vested in the
resplendent brewery turnouts, featuring a team of Clydesdales in show harness
pulling wagons laden with kegs of beer or hogsheads of wine. Teams of ‘draught
horses’ once clip-clopped down cobbled streets, with the front wheels sashaying
in a distinctive motion, while the steel rims ground a snake-like pattern over
the roadway. Modern-day harness enthusiasts seek to emulate these supreme
exhibits from the past. The “Seppelt Wines” lorry, driven by Graeme Burns with
Clydesdale gelding ‘Ben Koi Holdbrook’ in the staves, activates this history.
Young and old competitors can drive a heavy horse by walking
behind with ‘a long rein’, which is proving to be a school for keeping skills
with working horses alive. An ‘obstacle course’ allows driving experience in
negotiating gates, ramps, logs and combined with pulling a sled, equates to a
variety of tasks that a utility horse could be expected to perform on a farm. ‘Gentlemen’,
‘Lady’ and ‘Junior’ drivers are awarded for their skills with the ‘single’ or ‘paired’
long rein. Kevin Marshall was the “Champion Exhibitor” in working horse
classes. During the horse-drawn era, a draught could be expected to pull the
plough during the week, deliver a wagonload of produce to market and be
harnessed to a buggy for weekend observances – visiting neighbours, attending
recreation sports or church.
The versatility of the type from Clyde in Scotland, lends
itself to useful crosses with a variety of breeds. The ‘Drum Horse’, with
distinctive black and white markings, has long been a feature of military and
parade bands carrying the kettle or bass drums. The Gypsy Cob is a prime choice
for a cross to beget a Drum Horse, as is a black n’ white Clydesdale-Paint
stallion too but less common. The “Champion Gypsy Cob” of the festival at 14hh is
an imported English stallion: ‘The Minstrel of Surrey Springs’ owned by R&R
Brew - who could easily pull a caravan.
Crossing a Clydesdale with a ‘Standardbred’, ‘Australian Stock
Horse’ or ‘Quarter Horse’ produces a handy mount or light harness class. This
cross is increasingly popular with women who find it a dependable and safe
mount for a variety of disciplines - akin to the comfort and reliability of a
family sedan - compared to the overpowered and ‘fast-twitch’ steering of a
sports model! It is also ‘family-friendly’, one that children can use. As a
pleasure mount, the ‘Clydesdale-Cross’ is very suitable for the trail, as it
just keeps plodding on and is a reliable, sure-footed choice for a packhorse
too.
The “Clydesdale-Cross Sport Horse Association”, who conducted
their own show at the venue on the Sunday, is growing in membership as the
demand for this versatile hybrid continues to grow. The cross is ideally supported
by the high standard of registered purebred Clydesdale sires available in
Australia.
Festival organiser, Robert Ronzio, was very pleased with the
weekend. “A feature of this year’s event was the selection of different breeds,
such as the rare Suffolk Punch and Gypsy Cob,” Robert says. “It was great to
have more vehicles to previous years too. The participation of the Victorian
Working Draught Horse Association always creates a lot of activity. We had some
light delivery horses this year and they made a nice feature.”
It is the third year the event has been at Werribee, “This is
a relaxed show and the social side is the best part of it,” he says. “While the
Royal Melbourne Show is the main competitive event but more formal. Here there
are large grounds with space for harness and we get great support from the
National Equestrian Centre staff and the Wyndham City Council to host it each
year.” Robert spent much of his time in the show ring - leading ‘Highland
Lass’, a four-month old foal, behind his “Champion Clydesdale Mare”, ‘Jendalyn
Annabelle’ - under the watchful gaze of judges Graeme Trewin and Elizabeth
Murphy.
(First published in Australian Performance Horse Year Book 2010).
