Are our heavy horses stuck in the mud?

Story from June 2017 Horse Deals magazine

A discussion on the showing of heavy horses in Australia with breeder, trainer and exhibitor, Ross Carbery.

Our conversation with Ross occurred after the Heavy Horse Spectacular conducted at SIEC on 22nd and 23rd April 2017, showcased some exciting harness competition run under USA type rules. The event comprised of a full programme of heavy horse classes including, Led, Harness, Turnout, Ridden, Driven in Reins, Handler and Obstacle classes. All harness events were judged on the rail, with no individual workouts. At times the arena was filled with free going delivery horses, accompanied by a modern soundtrack over the PA and just at arm’s length from the spectators. The fast paced exciting competition was thought by some spectators, to be the best event they had experienced at SIEC.

In Australia, heavy horses and heavy harness are considered virtual museum pieces, with enthusiasts having an historical interest in maintaining the status quo as it was over 100 years ago. These Clydesdales, Shires, Percherons and Belgian Drafts etc, were the horses that hauled the bales of wool across the black soil plains, dug dams, ploughed fields and got the kegs of beer to the pubs. They were working horses and we want to keep those traditions. 100 years ago, all horses were working horses, but those other, lighter riding horses have not stood still as time marched on, they have been changed and adapted for modern usage. The heavy horse too looks different from its ancestors of 100 years ago. Horse breeding and horse competition have evolved to fit in to a modern world and to be exciting and attractive for modern society. The Clydesdale, that icon of Australian development, is listed as “vulnerable” with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. We need more people to get involved, but at Royal Shows, the showcase for the public to be introduced to horses, the judging of the heavy horse harness classes, is very slow and from the stands, they cannot really appreciate the beautiful presentation. People want to be entertained and have fun and there is no doubt that when the show carts enter at a good medium trot, the audience sits up and takes notice. The show ring is the place for entertainment, but not at the expense of correct form and function. It is a showcase for the breed to appeal to a new generation of enthusiasts. The place for historical reenactment is the field day, a marvelous opportunity to see working horses work as they did 100 years ago. Show cart is almost a profanity in some heavy horse circles, but the vehicle does add to the entertainment and popularity of heavy horse showing. Without enthusiasts, the Clydesdale, Shire, Percheron, Belgian Draft, Suffolk Punch etc. will die out and sticking to tradition will be cold comfort when that happens.

“You talk about the “modern way of showing heavy horses in big wheeled show carts,” begins Ross Carbery, “but in the rest of the world they have been showing them in a more forward, more exciting way for the last 30-40 years. Matthew Marriott caused a sensation at Melbourne Show a few years ago with his forward, beautiful moving, Beereega Culross, shown at medium trot in a show cart. It divided the Clydesdale exhibitors and still does. I don’t think there is a breed of horses with perhaps the exception of the Lippizaner, that performs as it did 100 years ago. Horses evolve for the need of the time; whatever justifies their existence. Australia seems to be the only country where some heavy horse breeders are stuck at the beginning of the 20th Century. Field Days are the place for historical reenactment, but don’t get field days and showing mixed up because they are two different things.

“I have travelled extensively throughout the world for the past 40 years, looking at draft horses and there is nothing new about the big two wheeled carts, as I have seen them in catalogues in the US as early as 1906. All over the world, heavy horses are driven in these show carts. Over the years in Australia, Clydesdales have been crossed with Hackneys to produce a show delivery horse and these horses have been very successful, but there is nothing traditional about that cross. You are crossing a Ferrari with a Mack truck to get a flash four wheeled drive ute! Some heavy horse enthusiasts and judges do not want the horses driven beyond the walk. The reason being that you cannot pull a heavy load at speed. Sure, the heavier the load, the slower you go; nobody trots a full load. Some say they were never trotted, period. I am saying they were trotted plenty of times when they were empty. The speed was more a cultural thing rather than a practical thing, as not all drivers were vocational, just as today some truck drivers just steer. It is easy to see the point of an inexperienced driver going slowly with his team of heavy horses through the streets of London, but that has little to do with showing heavy horses today.

“The perception about the “traditional” is not factual and is misleading, as there are many harness traditions and those traditions have changes with the years. We have two sections of showing, the Turnout class and the horse class. And a subset of that is the Period Turnout. The vehicles may be old, but almost all have been restored by modern, not traditional techniques. The hitched teams of two, four, six and eight are all the more spectacular when trotting. Show carts are not used for Turnout classes and The Delivery Horse class did not originally stipulate what type of vehicle they were to be shown in, as it is a horse class. That is of course until the show carts arrived and were legislated against. I was winning the Horse classes with my Percherons, not because I was driving them in a show cart, but because I was breeding a different, more active style of draft horse. I had observed this trend for years and years overseas and I am sick of watching paint dry; I like watching those active horses that are a bit freakish, like Beereega Culross. There are other issues about the traditional like vehicles. Seventy percent of those showing draft horses today are women. The physical effort of moving lorries and harness was another reason for the popularity of show carts, as it is physically easier to get to a show. I have no desire to eliminate so called traditional vehicles from the show ring and I certainly do not advocate they be replaced by show carts.

“At the end of the day, some people want to hang on to the old ways, they don’t want to improve. The point is we are putting on a show; we are advertising. You will not go to a show in the UK where there is not plenty of action; it does not matter what breed it is. We all want to keep the draught horse business going. Some want to stick to so called tradition, spend $20,000 on a wagon and $25,000 on harness and go like a slow old man, at snail’s pace. The turnover of horse people in and out of the industry is high. About 70% of people that come in, drop out after seven years. The dynamics of the horse showing community has changed; nowadays they want instant gratification and they want fun. So with any horse industry and especially the draught horse industry, you have to get people started and you have to keep them interested. We need to offer people an entry level option to showing. They can have a show cart and harness, brand new for $10,000 ready to drive away. You cannot do that with a traditional vehicle. Showing has to have room for people to come in at the entry level and have fun. It’s not just a matter of going faster, the horse still has to be balanced, collected and within its own rhythm; it’s not a race. I want to see a lovely, balanced horse with expression and impulsion.

“The difference between the old, traditional ways and the modern ways only exists in Australia. It does not exist anywhere else in the world and the Scots were happy to endorse change. There are plenty of hitch wagons and show carts in Scotland and the UK, but there like here, there are a number of people that don’t like them. Also I don’t think there is enough emphasis put on how the horse goes. The horse should be able to work and that includes an active walk. A true harness horse wants to be a show off and in some cases we are at risk of breeding horses that are too quiet and have no work ethic. Some breeds would benefit from a bit of highbred vigor from an outcross, as has been the case with most modern breeding programmes around the world. To save the breeds they need to outcross without losing the breed characteristics.

“I am not anti anything and certainly not anti traditional vehicles. I am pro forward thinking; we have to have a future and I am so frustrated with the negativity in some areas.”

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