The Southern Counties Heavy Horse Association

Great All England Ploughing Match Championships and Show of Heavy Horses
Sunday 18th October 1998

By Sue Wingate

The day dawned bright and beautiful and stayed that way until the last spectator made their way home in the early evening. It must have seemed a miracle to the organisers of this event who only the day before had been struggling to move vehicles and equipment on to the show ground, the deep mud and wet conditions forcing them to abandon some items which would move no further...

Cross Farm in Shackleford provided an excellent venue for the Ploughing Championships and Heavy Horse Show an event which provided a wonderful spectacle and a most reasonably priced, family day out. Quite apart from the main attraction of the heavy horses in the show ring and the intricacies of the horse ploughing to watch, there was a good selection of trade stands, waggon rides, vintage tractors, a Punch and Judy Show and some highly entertaining terrier racing on the agenda - it made such a difference to spend a day wandering around in golden sunshine as opposed to weathering the wind and rain that generally prevailed this October that it could not have failed to make the day all the more memorable... not that the event was at risk of not taking place after even the great storm of 1987 had failed to stop proceedings.

there were contestants of all ages...

This is a unique event, there being nothing else quite like it in the UK, and it is obviously one of the highlights of the year for members of the SCHH Association.

I was promised that I would see many horses from across the country and I was not disappointed. Entries in the ploughing came from as far afield as Doncaster, the West Country and East Anglia. This is certainly a major date on the calendar as far as ploughing is concerned. Since it represents a sphere where experience counts for more than the exuberance of youth - there were inevitably contestants of all ages - the oldest I believe was well into his seventies and rode his horses into the ring for the prize giving in the time honoured way - sitting sideways on one of his team.

One spectator got a bird's eye view...!

Watching horses ploughing has to be one of the very best antidotes to our generally stressful and hectic modern way of life. Time quickly loses all meaning when watching a skilled handler and his team working together. Even without an in-depth knowledge of the technical aspects of the competition there is much for the spectator to savour and on the day in question it was thrilling just to see so many teams in action - Shires, Clydesdales, Percheron, Suffolks, Ardennes - they were all there. It was a feast of genuine horsepower.

John McDermott and his Percherons - team work in action.

The skill and training required to handle the horses with such precision doesn t come easily. For example, turning the horses at the headland which has to be accomplished in a confined space, is a very delicate manoeuvre. Maybe dressage riders do think that they have exclusive rights to manoeuvres such as a turn on the haunches. The terminology may be different but the result is the same, and these horses are for the most part working not as individuals, but as a team, so their movements have to be coordinated and, of course, there is the small matter of the plough that they are pulling. Ploughmen use their voices a lot to control and encourage their horses, in fact the voice is probably their most important aid. Above all, the word team is not used lightly since that is what ploughing with horses is all about - teamwork.

John Goodwin's team of smart bays...

The different techniques of ploughing and the rules for the ploughing match are outlined in The Layman s guide to Ploughing which accompanies this article, and I will not repeat them here, but never having seen high cut ploughing before I was fascinated by the technique which created furrows so pristine and clean cut.

The winner of the High Cut Ploughing was John Goodwin from the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, his dog followed the team of smart bay shires throughout much of the proceedings!

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