„Ein Höllenpferd“: Shire, Das Für 500 Pfund Gekauft Wurde, Schließt Sich Household Cavalry An

Ein Shire, der für 500 £ bei einer Auktion gekauft wurde, hat eine hochkarätige Rolle als ein Trommelpferd in der Household Cavalry.

Der fünfjährige Ed trat Ende letzten Jahres dem Regiment bei und ist das zweite Pferd, das die Household Cavalry von Dyfed Shire Horses in Pembrokeshire gekauft hat.

Im Jahr 2008 verkaufte die walisische Farm und Touristenattraktion einen Dreijährigen namens Dyfed Grey Celt (jetzt bekannt als Mercury) an das Regiment und er hat eine erfolgreiche Karriere hinter sich. in der Trooping of the Colour bei acht Gelegenheiten.

Als sie letztes Jahr nach einem neuen Rekruten suchten, besuchte die Armee die Farm noch einmal und stellte fest, dass Ed die Anforderungen erfüllte.

„Mir wurde gesagt, dass Ed noch keinen Huf falsch gemacht hat und wir große Hoffnungen in ihn setzen.“ Der Besitzer von Dyfed Shire Horses, Huw Murphy, sagte gegenüber H&H. „Er war bereits in der Oxford Street und draußen bei der Serpentine, und wir glauben, dass er die Note früher als erwartet schaffen könnte.

Er ist ein verdammt gutes Pferd und wir waren traurig, ihn gehen zu sehen, aber auch sehr, sehr stolz

although he breeds and produces only a handful of shire horses each year – most of whom are retained to work on the farm - mr murphy has had huge success selling the horses into ceremonial work.

as well as celt and ed’s roles in the household cavalry, he sold two horses to join the royal cavalry in oman in 2017. the farm also hosted the prince of wales and duchess of cornwall on a visit in 2018, when the duchess took the reins of the then four-year-old ed for a cart ride (pictured, above).

huw either breeds the shires who work on the farm himself, or buys them as youngsters and spotted ed as a yearling at the midlands shire foal sale in september 2015.

“i never even touched him and just saw him from the side of the ring,” huw said. “he’d been donated by his breeder to raise funds for the families of four men who died in the bosley mill fire.

“i bought him for £500 and who would have thought he would turn out to be the shire horse he is today.”

huw’s family has run the 80-acre farm since 1849 and it was his grandfather who retained a passionate interest in the working horses despite the rapid onset of mechanisation after the second world war.

“my grandfather was one of the die-hards and refused to give up the working horses; when everyone else went on to tractors he kept working the shires,” he said. “before i was born he was still working them on the green crops like swedes.”

after his grandfather died in 1991, huw’s mother decided that the shires could not stay as pets and needed to earn their keep.

“we diversified into a tourist farm to enable us to maintain them and maintain my grandfather’s legacy,” huw added.

the farm has eight shires, four of whose work includes tasks such as turning the hay as well as greeting tourists and offering cart trips.

the farm is a source of local pride and preseli mp stephen crabb joined huw at olympia in december to meet celt as he performed with the regiment.

“to have two pembrokeshire-bred horses with the household cavalry is a tremendous badge of honour for the whole team at dyfed shire horse farm and for pembrokeshire,” mr crabb said.

“i last saw celt at trooping of the colour in 2011, where i was lucky enough to take a picture of him in full regalia. it was great to see celt once again and to congratulate huw on his success with both celt and ed.”

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