Plaiting Heavy Horses - THE SHIRE HORSE

  THE SHIRE HORSE

With more and more new people joining our fabulous heavy horse world I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk about the items needed for each breed, as it's a question I'm asked frequently

🏆 IN HAND TURNOUT 🏆

Shires are turned out fully plaited from yearling upwards and it's the same standard for Stallions, Mares and Geldings. 

FLIGHTS

Flights are always an odd number - some say this is "lucky" and the typical number is 11-15 flights (I personally never put 13 in), that said it's worth looking at your horse and seeing what looks best. Some people plait with fewer and some plait with alot more, depending on the spacing. The most I counted on a Shire once was 21! 

MANE ROLLS

Traditionally Shires are plaited in raffia covered with coloured tapes, a skill I'm learning myself for this season, and always a treat seeing the best horseman plait in this method. The "padded" rolls are a modern twist on this and very popular with those who might struggle with wool. 

Wool is again traditional, and whilst unruly can be tamed to create a fabulous plait. 

TAILS AND THE TAIL RING

Tails for Shires - two "sprigs" created with two strands of hair and raffia crossed over in a four-way plait, then with tail flights wound around - sitting either side of the tail bun - created with a plait at the top of the tail and the hair looped back . The Tail ring or "jug handle" is unique to the Shire horse, and is placed in the top of the bun. Ribbon is then tied to finish. The history of the jug handle is abit unclear but I will go in to this in a separate post 😁 

THE NECK BAND

The neck band is used to hold the competition number and is secured with a piece of mane to stop it slipping 😉

My Shire in hand show sets come complete with: 

⭐ 15 mane flights

⭐ 2 tail flights

⭐ Mane rolls - wool, padded and soon to come, traditional raffia 

⭐ Tail ring 

⭐ Neck band 

⭐ Ribbons 

For driving or harness turnout it's much the same but with a slight shorter mane roll and generally 5 or 7 flights.

For ridden classes - NO flights are worn in the mane (for any breed) so for Shires it's just a mane roll, and then tail decorations as above. 

🌈 COLOURS 🌈 

As with all the breeds there are "traditional colours" and for shires this seems to be Red/Yellow ~ Blue/Yellow ~ Green/Yellow ~ Red/White ~ Yellow/white ~ Red/White/Blue ~ Red/Blue/Yellow 

They are based around the primary colours but of course these days everyone wants to be unique and with ribbons available in a HUGE range of colours you are spoilt with choice. 

Whatever you choose, just be sure that the colours compliment your horse - your flights are NEVER judged, but, they are there to ENHANCE the overall appearance and not detract 👌🏼 

This information is based upon my own knowledge and there are other people who may make subtle changes. 

There is lots of people willing to offer guidance and lots of plaiting workshops happening across the country. It's worth joining your local society if your in need of help 😁 

I hope this information is useful 😁