Pembrokeshire-based John Fletcher started learning about what makes horses tick when he was an eight-year-old child. This learning curve took place when John acquired an unhandled pony from Cardigan Mart, where each year there was a sale of feral ponies.
Training
These Welsh ponies had been born in the Preseli Mountains, and each year the excess young stock was sold at auction. Ponies like this were cheap enough to buy, but training one of these wily equines without incurring serious injury was an art. John, however, despite his young age, managed, literally by the seat of his pants, to train his pony Bluebird (named after the racing car of the time). When John was still a child, the family became the owners of a Shire horse, which John would ride around the farm.
Shire horses are known for their calm, easygoing nature. For some 250 years since the advent of the Shire horse, breeders have worked to create the sort of horses that we could safely rely on for all of our farming and haulage needs. In the last century, however, working horses have rapidly declined in numbers and today heavy horses are bred more for the show ring and less for working purposes.
Some say thatnoisy environment without a great deal of preparation. “Years of training go into getting them to behave as we expect them to behave,” says Stacy.
