About Waterfall Shires

Shires are mainly used for showing nowadays; whether this be in hand, ridden or carriage driving. County show feedback reports have noted increasing popularity with the heavy horses and so have responded by increasing the range of classes available to showcase these beautiful animals. Now being ridden in side saddle and dressage classes to show their diversity and flexibility.

As breeders we take advantage of these shows to show off our heavies; pulling carriages which can be adapted for weddings, funerals, breweries and pulling agricultural machinery as they used to, while being far more environmentally friendly than their competitors – the tractor.  Environmental issues are becoming far more important in recent years and heavy horses are now being used in the forestry logging industry as well as on farms again.

I wasn’t fortunate enough to have a pony as a child, or riding lessons; so I began riding a friend’s horse at 13 and was instantly bitten by the ‘horsey bug’. I bought my first horse Kaliber at the age of 27 and learned “hands on”, following that I bought a 3 year old shire x cob filly (Lizzie Brown) and learned how to break a horse in – by falling off and getting back on again.

I then managed a busy livery yard with 27 liveries for 4 years, encompassing general assisted livery as well riding and schooling the owner’s horse(s). During this time, I had a lot of hands on experience with horses of different breeds, temperaments and ages and the opportunity to learn how to break in, re-school and rehabilitate horses.

I was encouraged by a Holistic Therapist to train for my Certificate in Equine Merishia Massage as I was massaging my horses regularly to relieve tension and she noticed just how instinctive this was for me. Equine Merishia Massage delivers a non-invasive deep tissue massage to improve performance and ease tension / muscle spasm. I qualified in 2014.