Heavy Horses at the Cranleigh Show

Mr Buck at work...... Roger Chitty leads up his Clydesdale 'Just Barney'

You had to feel sympathy for Mr P Buck, the Judge of all the heavy horse classes at Cranleigh Show. In such sweltering heat that spectators were passing out and the St John's Ambulance were issuing repeated warnings to people to take cover from the sun and imbibe more fluids, Mr Buck officiated in the Heavy Horse ring with hardly a break for over four hours; and he was naturally 'correctly' attired, complete with jacket and a bowler hat. Judges are often taken for granted - or worse - but hopefully on this occasion his efforts were truly appreciated!

Cranleigh is essentially a local show. It has been in existence for 53 years and originated as an agricultural show that provided local farmers in Surrey and West Sussex with an annual opportunity to meet and to show their livestock - and, of course, their horses. When this show was first conceived many local farmers would have been using draught horses for work in the fields and local woodlands, and heavy horses were an important feature of the show. Many of the breeds have been through very hard times since then and both the Clydesdale and the Suffolk Punch remain on the rare breeds list - the latter being particularly under threat (see Rare Breed section, June 1999 issue). It was encouraging, therefore, that Mr Buck did have a good selection of horses to appraise - and also that of all the horse rings, the Heavy Horse ring consistently attracted the most spectators.

When asked what he considered to be the most notable feature of the classes he judged Mr Buck said "This is a local show, but one that attracts horses from a radius of twenty miles or more, which makes the classes more competitive. It is encouraging, therefore, that the really local horses fared so well." Special rosettes were awarded to the best 'local' entry in each class and these were awarded to the winners of both the Best Gelding and the Best Mare classes - which proves his point.

A delighted Kevin Ryan and 'Vanguard'

An entry of twelve contested the Best Gelding class. Mostly shires, there was at least one Clydesdale - the roan Just Barney, owned and shown by Roger Chitty. Roger has just recently moved to the New Forest area but he still supported what used to be his local show! Just Barney eventually stood third in the line-up behind local horse Webster - renowned for his 'airs above the ground' (which his handler Billy Hunter can produce almost to order!) - and Vanguard, a 10-year-old gelding, owned and shown by Kevin Ryan - who was really thrilled when announced the winner.

Kevin comes from Rudgwick in West Sussex and has had the horse for about six years. Vanguard had a sad history before luckily finding his way into Kevin's care. Whilst on another mission he spotted the horse in a field in Camberley, apparently leaning on an oak tree. On closer inspection, apparently the tree was the only thing keeping the horse upright. Badly neglected (only half his proper bodyweight and with badly overgrown feet) the horse had been the victim of a senseless and vicious attack with a knife with left him with 22 wounds, traces of which can still be seen. He also had a bolt through one foot. Despite his appalling condition Vanguard has recovered both mentally and physically and is a credit to Kevin, who uses him for harrowing, haymaking and other tasks around the farm.

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