• Draft horses and heavy horses are the same thing in the UK. The word 'heavy' is preferred in Britain but the word 'draft' (or 'draught' in the English spelling) is universal.
• Heavy horses are the giants of the equine world. 19.2hh is the highest recorded in the UK in modern times. Most are 17-18hh.
• Heavy horse' is synonymous with 'Shire' horse, but the Shire is just one of the heavy breeds. The others in the UK are the Clydesdale, Suffolk Punch and the British Percheron. Ardennes horses from France/Belgium are also popular.
• Heavy horses literally made the wheels of Britain's industry go round. They worked in fields, in towns, on docks and quays, on canal towpaths, for mills and railways. There were millions of them. After the Second World War they were so threatened by the internal combustion engine, they nearly died out.
• Until the 1960's heavy horses used to be a familar sight delivering beer in city streets. In London, Young's of Wandsworth is the only brewery still delivering beer by horse.
• Heavy horses are still used on farms, where they can be just as useful as a tractor, more companionable and as a bonus, they breed their own replacements!
• There are thought to be some 10,000 heavy horses in the country today. But there are also many cross-bred heavies or 'vanners' as they used to be called. Cobs, Dales, Fell and other native ponies are also very useful working horses.
• The last 10 years has seen a revival of heavy horses in forestry where they do less damage than machinery in environmentally sensitive woodland and on steep slopes.
• Today's heavy horse owners don't just show them, drive them or work them with implements - they also ride them! This is a useful way of exercising them - and it's GREAT fun being up so high!
• The new sport of heavy horse cross country trials is another way for people to enjoy their horses. Very similar to light horse trials, the course includes a marathon and hazards. In 1999 the first 20-horse strong British team took part in La Route du Poisson, the French 27-hour relay race which commemorates the route taken by draft horses transporting fresh fish from the coast to Paris.
• You can see heavy horses in action at shows and events all over the country. The biggest heavy horse show is the National Shire Horse Show in March at the East of England Showground, Peterborough. Or to see the largest gathering of horses ploughing anywhere in the UK, go to the Great All England Ploughing Match held in the South of England each October.