Riding the Shire Horse in England! 

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🤚 2 year old. The shire mares came to foal at our stables so I've known him since birth. He is stunning 😍

Tail docking was banned years ago. Do you mean allowed to grow?

@@robinclarke9978 , have a looksee what they do in the US with show horses and agricultural drafters. It looks appallling really. A horse has tail and should have it!

@@BehindTheHeadstall that’s the dumbest thing i’ve heard in a while…

@@BehindTheHeadstall no it’s not. why isn’t every horses tail cut then? why do riders have long hair? this is a pathetic try to justify the abuse

Thank you SO much for volunteering! Make sure you bring what you need to get the runny and solid shit out of the tail! I solute you!

I STRONGLY second that motion!! Hear! HEAR! #SaveTheShire 💞🐎💞

Thanks for watching! So glad you enjoyed it!

Reminds me of Pete Postlethwaite for the look of him.

Glad you enjoyed it, Megan! Thanks for joining me on the adventure!

Me too...and I live here !!

Come over web got lovely place Old 12th century villages life’s to short

And ring a bell to call them over.

@@charlesmiller9161 I wanted to train my cat to come to the sound of a bell, but it turned out that it hurt her ears, so she ran from it instead! I'm glad to see that it works with horses, and doesn't hurt them, at least from a distance. The bell's tone could make a big difference too. I used a very small one, so it was very high pitched.

That's great, I wish growing up I could have ridden a horse like that! It must have been fun to ride Lady and just let her wander all over the pasture where ever she wanted to go. If you think you've had a big four legged friend growing up you need to see Tippi & Abu ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9XfAslaNyro.html

@@specterman2000 Oh Wow!!! It wasn't unlike that with me and Lady to be honest she was a giant. Strangest thing was how Lady seemed to understand I was trying to ride her but rather than just wander aimlessly she almost kind of went “Well don't just sit up there like a bit of fruit - if you want me to move you'll need to figure out how to tell me where you wanna go” and when I figured it out by just leg / mane and verbally, she moved and went wherever I wanted and never put a foot wrong unless I did. Elephants are breathtaking and beautiful creatures.

@@charlottewebster4233 I bet you wished Lady would have laid down for you so it would have been easier to get on her back. It was great to hear how you had such a good relationship with Lady and how she would understand you without even a halter rope to guide her. Elephant are awesome animals! I bet we both wished we could have also ridden Abu all over Africa.

TY, Charlotte, for that beautiful comment of your experience and the reference to Cambrian Heavy Horses! I will look them up and need to add to my "To Do List"! 💞🐎💞

It really is! I loved my time there!

Great song, and great band altogether! Crosseyed Mary and Aqualung are my favorite songs. If you haven't heard the album Aqualung, search here on RU-vid for it. You will find it's just great!

What does "docking a horses tail" mean? As a non native speaker (I'm German) I'm not familiar with that term 🤔

@@d.rim.4275 The amputation or ligature procedure of cutting off half of the horses' tail.

@@specterman2000 wtf? Really? WHY on earth would one do that to a horse?!? 😱 In general I just don't understand why so many people cut away body parts of animals, wether it's ears or tails. Or try to breed it out of them. I've stumbled over so many dog vids where there are dog breeds without a tail, esp. Americans, while the same breed over here in Germany still has its tail. There is a reason why nature gave the horses that tail ... and amputating a fully functioning, healthy bodypart is just wrong and cruel 🤐

@@d.rim.4275 Many horse people also agree it's cruel and unnecessary! But unfortunately the majority of draft horse breeders here in America would rather dock their horses tail because they believe it will get caught in the harness. It would be just as easy to wrap up or just trim down their tails to their hocks. But they would rather take short cuts when it comes to harnessing up their draft horses.

@@d.rim.4275 Yeah just to touch on the tail docking of dogs as well. It used to be very commonplace in working gun dogs (Spaniels in particular) and I hadn't realised the extent of injuries and fatalities caused to many of them having got tangled up in reeds and various hazards found in ponds, rivers and lakes. It's not commonplace at all anymore but I used to have a Springer Spaniel whose full tail was constantly covered in sticks, thistles and getting reeds and weeds wrapped around it so I can understand how easily and often dogs will have come to grief.

You must be an experienced equestrian...I think I'll keep the saddle, just in case! 🐎🥴🐎

@@debrahouston2884 the horse has to have a very calm temperament, believe me!

@@debrahouston2884 Once a person gets used to bareback they never want to use a saddle again! There are times when it's necessary, since it is easier to come off the horse. I once landed on my back, when my horse shied at something only (was startled and scared), 2 feet or so from a pointy stump that certainly would have broken my back and killed me. And I was alone at the time! It was a very valuable lesson! But overall, bareback riding is wonderful! It puts you so much more in touch with your horse, and it teaches you to be a far better rider.

@@ObamAmerican48 I love your name ! ! !

@@cattymajiv thaks!

hello , i like the lady also, lol lol lol lol lol lol lol l

Oooooh - I didn't know about this!! Sounds like an absolute blast! What time of year is the show usually?

It did!!! 😁

Awww, he sounds wonderful!

Okami Wolfee, our 8-year-old Shire mare is a joy to ride in every way. Far easier/smoother than riding our 8-year-old Morgan mare.

i all ways rember seen a big grey one on some thing on the tv think wow what a horse but he was be killed for meat i never forgotten this

@@anthonyharris3193 That's an awful idea, but how do you know what happened to him? Please explain.

Gentle giants with true horsepower!! 🥰 Thanks for sharing your grandfather's story!

Awww, that is such a fun name for a Shire!

@@DiscoverTheHorse Hi, i will ask you something, alyssa

Good eye! That is Eli, and he thought the camera was loads of fun! 😁

Thank you so much Claire! He's one of those horses that you just instantly fall in love with. 💜😊

So comfy, I dont get why people keep saying they are too big to ride. They are excellent and never spook for long

@@SocialShires A horse doesn't need to spook "for long" for the rider to break their neck! Somebody who uses the word Shire in their name, to seem as if they have horses, should know that a split second is all it takes to kill or cripple a person, and that all horses spook sometimes.

Awww thank you so much!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! 💜🐎

Lovely! I am jealous!

It was! ☺️ Thanks for watching Sara!

Thank you! I feel the same way! :)

Thanks so much Larry! Welcome to the channel! So glad you enjoyed the video. :)

Same here!

It’s called word commanding or being word commanded, and all of my horses are like that. You can also slow them down and stop them simply on words as well. I teach riding instruction, and it’s just a basic progression of thinking (when your body thinks about changing gate it starts to assume a different position and rhythm), then if the horse doesn’t respond you proceed with asking (the word or voice command within a second), then if they still don’t respond go to telling (a gentle leg or weight/seat cue for upwards transitions or seat and rein cues for downward transitions) and finally commanding and sticking with that command until you get the result you want (a more firm repetition of the tell command with the voice command accompanying simultaneously). Get in and get out with kind firmness. A horse will attempt to protect its rib cage and mouth so if the rider is kind and consistent eventually the horse gets familiar with each step and will learn to even go off the thinking part of the rider’s body and not even need the voice. That’s how riders achieve riding that looks effortless and almost seems like the horse is reading the mind of the rider. Horses are generally very willing and smart if given the proper fair leadership they seek. Most would rather get along than put up a fuss unless their not treated fairly or are confused, in some sort of discomfort or feeling unsafe (not properly supported either mentally or emotionally by their handler).

@@charliewhon6548 I grew up in horse country and rode a little, but I unfortunately never got the kind of training to learn how to ride. From your input here, it's relieving to know there is a more horse-friendly way of riding that works with the horse's natural instincts as opposed to jabbing them in the ribs to make them speed up.

@@charliewhon6548 What a wonderful explanation! You must be a great teacher. I would love to have you as my trainer. I'm old now, and I don't have the money to take lessons. I did years ago, and have had such joy trail riding a lot, but I was never able to attain my lifelong dream of owning a small acreage and a few horses of my own, or learning more than I did. I wish you all the best, and your very lucky students!

@@SithCelia Most horses now are trained with kindness. The method is called Pressure And Release, and it's worlds away from the old concept of using fear and pain. There are many great and kind trainers and riders. Sadly though, many horses do end up being abused and/or neglected, even in very extreme ways! The so called disciplines of racing, rodeos, and Big Lick are all heavily based on torturing horses. Big Lick refers to the horse shows where horses wear big, thick, heavy blocks on their front feet while their back legs nearly collapse from being off balance, in order to make them lift their front feet very high. In Big Lick, as in racing and rodeos, many different methods of inflicting pain are used on the horses. They use caustic chemicals to burn their legs, then put chains on there to rub the area when they walk. They are forced to wear the blocks on theif feet in their stalls for weeks on end. Just keeping horses in stalls for long periods is cruel, on its own. Their instincts constantly tell them that they need to be free. So to them, even a pasture is restrictive, and a stall is a prison! Their tendons in their tails are cut, so the tail can be forced to stand up, which is not natural in that breed, the Tennessee Walking Horse. And the bridles they use on them are also horrible instruments of torture. They have very long shanks on the bits in the horses' mouths. No shanks at all are necessary, but the ones they use are 6 to 8 inches long! They exert force on 5 parts of the horses head, including the very sensitive mouth. Every inch of shank multiplies the force exerted when the reins are pulled on, by many MANY times! The riders are generally terrible riders, big fat old men and women who never learned how to ride properly and bounce like a sack of potatoes. You can see this very clearly, and that is in spite of the fact that a "gaited breed" the TWHs have the smoothest gaits in existence. Only the WORST riders will bounce on a gaited horse! But these very heavy riders, who are often well over the limit of 20% of their horses weight, bounce like crazy, so they use their hands to try to balance and they pull hard! So the horses are tortured in this way too. The mechanical effect of the leverage exerted is extreme! The bits are actual levers which crush their lips and tongue. There is no excuse for any of this. Like all horses, TWHs are beautiful, wonderful animals and this should have been stopped long ago. The proponents claim there is no more abuse, that it has been rooted out by regulations (which they fought against with tooth and nail). But many aspects of it are still clearly on display and easy to see! The vets who examine the horses have even been paid off. They say the chemicals are no longer used. It's called "soring" the horses, or soring their legs. But secret filming has proven that soring IS still done. It's just better camoflaged! Efforts are being made to stop all of these awful so called "sports", but they are supported by very rich people, and entire industries. Bribes are used, as well as high powered lawyers. They claim it's tradition. Every time it seems that Big Lick has been outlawed, the lawyers have found a loophole. But the fight against these types of abuse continues, and at some point sanity will prevail. Sadly though, too many beautiful, gentle horses will be tortured to death by those rich sadistic people before it happens. Please do a search about horse abuse. You will find hundreds or even thousands of videos about it, but near the top you will find a few great ones about Big Lick that aren't too long. Or you can search directly for "Big Lick abuse Raleigh Link". Raleigh Link is a crusader against horse abuse who you might like. The organized sanctioned so called sports of racing, rodeos, and Big Lick need to be stopped. An amazing group that fights Big Lick and all forms of abuse is called Horse Plus Humane Society, and they have a great RU-vid channel. Many of their videos are very uplifting happy ones too. I wish I could give you a link to the one where the girl who started it all tells her story, but I haven't got it right now. Her name is Tawnee (sp?), and what her organization does is so wonderful! Although it's very tragic that that type of thing is needed.

@ Donna Scarpa How little ones get up on those horses - and the horse is so patient. Lovely story🥰

Me too!! 🥰 What type of riding do you do?

I used to just ride trail and pleasure . I had a wonderful big appaloosa in the 70s when I was a teenager . I went riding 3 years ago in Glacier National Park when I visited my family in Montana. It was great being on horseback again after many years and the park is incredible .l hope you make your goal!

Welcome to the channel and thank you for joining me on the adventure!!

And the average Americans are enormously fat!

Hanner D, our Shire mare is 8 years old. I brought her home when she was a 4 months old filly. I've been around horses since birth. Our Shire mare is, by far, the most wonderful horse than I've ever known. She'll do anything that's asked of her. She's amazing to ride and she loves pulling a carriage, sleigh, or a 2 wheels cart. She also loves going up to her neck in water.