Horse of the Year Show! #2

One of the Horse of the Year Show’s most popular features was the “Musical Drive of the Heavy Horses,” where six two-horse teams of Shire and Suffolk horses were used to harrow the arena between events. Accompanied by special music, the teams would perform complicated patterns (including a cartwheel movement) and would end with a final surge down the arena with all twelve horses lined up abreast. The 1968 HOTYS souvenir program had a brief piece that described the differences between Shire and Suffolk horses: “The Shire, the largest and heaviest of all heavy horses . . . pulls incredible weights and is thought to be a descendant of the great war horse of medieval times. Yet with all this, he is a very kindly gentleman. The Suffolk, popularly known as Suffolk Punch, is always chestnut in colour. He is a clean legged horse, that is to say, carries no “feather” on the heel and has a very deep body with short legs . . . these horses are compact in shape and immensely powerful.”