Fell Ponies don’t look anything like Friesian horses. A Dales Pony looks more like a Friesian than a Fell does, and I think would have been more authentic – if the farmer raised ponies instead of horses.
Dales Pony:
1 Like
I’ve always coveted a Dales pony, even though my legs would probably drag the ground!
2 Likes
My farrier jokes that I doubled my state’s population of Shires when I got the young boy last year. Probably not totally accurate, but with only a hundred or so registered each year…
Both of mine are grade Shires, from working lines in the Midwest/Upper Plains. And yes, bay is an accepted color, they used to be much more common before the fad of ‘Big, Black, and Hairy’ The bay isn’t yet 3, I was hoping he would be the same height as the gray…but somehow I think he is going to taller!
9 Likes
This is the type of Fell pony I’ve seen. Looks very similar to a Friesian. I know someone that showed both at driving shows so I saw them together.
1 Like
I’ve always wanted one too. 
He does look like a Friesian! Handsome fellow!
They are beautiful! The first Shires I ever saw were bays (in books). The two I have met were bays too I think (20 years ago, at the KHP). The others I have met were Shire crosses, including a beautiful black Shire x TB mare.
1 Like
Early gelding adds more height to the boys. We now wait until our boys are full yearlings, knees closing from their testosterone levels. They just got too tall to keep, 18H!, when gelding them any younger.
I could be wrong, but think that your Shires sires and dams probably came from Illinois Shireland stock. Thomas Smert imported some of the best UK Shire stallions and mares for his breeding and fantasy park. They bred a lot, horses which were not trained or handled much as youngsters. When Mr Smert went bankrupt or died, Shireland equipment and Shire horses got sold at auction. The young horses did not sell for real high prices, they were BIG, pushy and untrained. Not sure what he still had of the UK animals by that time, almost 10? years later. Good lookers though, no bays that I an recall in his advertising. We got on his mailing list somehow, kept getting updates until almost the end. And we are not draft horse folks!
There were a number of the fiberglass Shire statues he comissioned, that got sold across the USA. I think that is the only draft horse model seen in the fiberglass statues, so draft horse folks wanted them. I know of one in Shipshewana IN, in front of a hotel complex.
1 Like
It is possible, although I haven’t seen papers to be sure, but I know both boys have a fair bit of Canadian lines in them; the grey’s dam was Canadian. But the grey probably does suggest Shireland stock. The bay’s sire is a complete outcross to current US lines. They are actually small and heavy for modern Shires. The grey is just barely 17 hands but weighs in at almost a ton. The bay was gelded fairly young, so he probably will be taller. But based on his parents he won’t be the lanky sort that certain major breeders in the US are creating…pet peeve of mine with draft horses.
4 Likes
Ladyhawke was the movie that started the whole Friesian “thing” in 1985. No one had seen much of them outside of Europe prior to that.
And if they seem to pop up in many. many modern productions, it’s because the same company supplies many of the horses used in them: https://thedevilshorsemen.com/about-us/
They supplied the horses for Downton Abby, Game of Thrones, etc., etc. If there’s a Friesian in it, it’s probably one of their horses.
7 Likes
OK, then maybe these Friesians near Darrowby in the 1930s are descended from any Friesians at Downtown Abbey (also in Yorkshire) a decade or two earlier, in the fictional world.
4 Likes
Sounds good. Thank you.
I’m low-key obsessed with the green teapot. I really want it to be enamelware.
Then it’s time we got educated.
I get so tired of US publishers and producers dumbing down things for US audiences.
We are the only country I know of that calls piebalds and skewbalds “spotted.” And “Paints” regardless of actual breed.
Why can’t we just join the rest of the English-speaking world?
I grew up with “coloured”, but, even when in the US (mostly East Coast) I never heard “spotted” except for in reference to an appaloosa, never a coloured pony.
“Ah, the fact that Friesians are almost identical might give them real value as movie horses because you could use several to portray one horse if you needed different tricks. They are genetic stunt doubles for each other.”
Bingo - the general public find them attractive and it’s easy to switch horses for different tricks, they also film well cause of the solid colour so I expect a high proportion of movie horses simply are the breed.
3 Likes
Yep. Didn’t the Seabiscuit movie use at least a half dozen different horses? Each had a specialty— running in the lead, running in the pack, walking with a rider, etc. I remember hearing that it was hard to match them all.
2 Likes
I think you missed my point which is that the word “coulored” (or “colored”) is racially tinged in the US. And I didn’t want to get into the “paint” vs “pinto” debate.
3 Likes
I didn’t miss your point.
I do think it’s absurd that we can’t say “coloured horse” here when the UK, which also has racists of all colours, has no problem with “coloured cobs” et al.
do they have the woke imbeciles that we do that would cringe at that word?
