The Horse at Work

"Faithful servants, horses endure so much and are endlessly generousScroll down for more in their desire to fulfil their owners' needs for work and play."

While there are many places where the horse has been superceded by machines that are faster and more powerful, there are many more parts of the world where peoples' livelihoods depend on their horses, donkeys and mules.

We live in a country where our horses and ponies are mainly kept for leisure and sporting activities - or simply for the pleasure of owning and caring for these beautiful animals.

But grandparents will remember when they worked alongside farmers and miners, and did 'door to door' deliveries of milk, coal and green groceries - and in the summer, ice cream!

Click on the buttons underneath each of the pictures above to see more images of horses at work, both past and present. But first ....

Did you know that ......?

A 15hh bay gelding called Comanche was the only member of the 7th Cavalry left alive after Custer's last stand.

Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty, only ever made £30 from the book.

General Robert E. Lee's beautiful 15.3hh iron grey horse, Traveler, died of tetanus in 1907 at the age of 13. He was buried near the Lee chapel but was subsequently disinterred and his remains put on display at the chapel for a while.

The first Grand National, then called the Grand Liverpool Steeplechase, took place in 1839

1825 was the year in which London first had horse-drawn buses. New York followed in 1831.

The first Hansom cabs appeared in London in 1834.

When my sister and I were little and were watching re-runs of the old western TV shows or films, we always used to lament "That horse will be dead by now". In the case of Champion the Wonder Horse, however, we were wrong. The star of the 1950s TV series, who was actually the third horse named Champion to belong to Gene Autry, did not die until 1991, at the age of 42.

The first horseshoes were used by the Romans and consisted of a very heavy iron shoe held to the horse's hoof by leather thongs. Known, unsurprisingly, as "hipposandals".

The first horsebox was built at Nether Wallop in Hampshire in 1836 at the instigation of racehorse owner Lord George Bentinck. As the date of the St. Leger neared and Bentinck's horse, Elis, had not yet arrived at Doncaster for the race, the odds lengthened - even if the horse showed up in time, he would be pretty tired after walking all the way from Goodwood. Elis was, however, transported the 250 miles in a van pulled by coach horses and won the race. What is not recorded is how long it took them to load him.

The longest tail ever recorded belonged to an American Palomino called Chinook, and measured 22ft. The longest mane measured 18ft and adorned a Californian mare named Maude.

Everybody knows that Red Rum won the Grand National three times, but the horse that entered the race the greatest number of times was called Manifesto. He ran eight Grand Nationals between 1895 and 1904, winning twice and coming third on three occasions.

Napoleon's white Arab stallion, Marengo, is one of the most famous horses in history, but there is barely any evidence that Marengo was actually his real name. Some authorities claim that Napoleon never mentioned a horse called Marengo in any document, in spite of keeping extensive records for all his other horses.

Only two grey horses have won the Grand National (although one won twice). They were The Lamb (1868 & 1871) and Nicolaus Silver (1961).

There are 190 horses on the Bayeux Tapestry.

After the death of the 1921 Epsom Derby winner, Humourist, an autopsy revealed that he had only ever had one lung.

The war horses of the Middle Ages were called "destriers" and were not just steeds but serious weapons. They weighed about twice as much as ordinary riding horses, but this was not just because they needed to carry the weight of their riders' armour - it was so they could run people over. Armour wasn't actually as heavy as people think but knights rode big horses because the weight vastly increased the impact of the lance on the unfortunate person at the other end. Another ploy was to shoe the destriers with protruding sharp nails - if you were a foot soldier in the Middle Ages, standing in the path of a destrier was a quite bad idea!

The famous Pony Express covered a distance of 1966 miles between Missouri and California. The distance would be ridden in ten days using four hundred ponies.

No horses have been taken into Iceland for over 800 years. Any which are taken out are not allowed back in again.

Errol Flynn's 1938 movie "Robin Hood" showed Maid Marion riding a horse whose name in real life was "Golden Cloud". This humble bit-part was the horse's lucky break - he was later sold to Roy Rogers and ascended to fame as "Trigger"

The real name of TV's Mr. Ed was Bamboo Harvester.

The largest number of horses ever to run in a race was in the Grand National of 1948. A total of 66 horses ran.

In a race at Belmont Park, USA, in 1925, a horse called Sweet Kiss romped home to victory. As they reached the winner's enclosure it became apparent that the jockey, Frank Hayes, was not in a celebratory mood. He was dead!