Wonderful Promotion for the Draft Horse in the UK

Open Day at Stud Farm & CPL Lecture

11-08-2024  

In recent years, many Belgian draft horses have been exported to the UK. Earlier this year, one of the larger breeders contacted us with the idea of organizing an open day to introduce their horses to a wider audience. We were, of course, thrilled with this initiative and quickly decided to take action and be part of the event. In early August, we crossed the Channel to England for the Open Day at the Heart Tree's Heavy Horses stud farm, home to around 70 Shires and Belgian draft horses.

One thing led to another and veterinarian Marieke Brys also joined us to give a lecture on CPL in draft horses. A group of about fifty genuinely interested breeders and owners, mainly of Cobs and Shires, attended. Marieke Brys (Assistant - PhD Researcher Veterinary Pathology) is currently pursuing her doctorate at the University of Ghent on CPL. During this lecture, she shared some insights from her research, which has been ongoing since last year, and has already yielded some promising new findings. An article with the initial results is currently under review and is expected to be published soon (we will keep you updated through this channel).

Andrew and Hollie from Heart Tree's Heavy Horses made sure that everything was perfectly organized for this lecture, for which we are sincerely grateful! Afterward, there was time to explore the stables and see many Belgian/Dutch-bred horses and meet the next generation.
This past season, two Shire stallions, one Percheron, and two Belgian draft horse stallions stood at the stud farm.
As a foal, the now four-year-old Max van 's Hertogendijk was sent to England. He is from the first crop of our reigning Belgian champion Hector van 't Grootveld. We also had the chance to view some of his promising offspring.

Andrew with Max

At the beginning of this year, Max was joined by James uit de Linde (by Mathador), who was specifically brought to the UK for his blue roan color and was paired with a selection of blue mares.

James

For the open day, a large number of mares with foals were brought into the stables. The facilities left nothing to be desired, with particularly spacious and airy stalls.

One of the stable buildings with Shires on the left and Belgians on the right

Heart Tree's Heavy Horses is primarily a Shire breeding farm and one of the largest breeding stables in the UK. For the occasion, the mare "Edwina" was braided in the traditional style.

Of course, we couldn't stay behind! Max was the lucky one chosen for this and we brought the Belgian tricolor along.

Our draft horses were at their best, with plenty of hugs and selfies!

Left: Draft horse mare Elza van 's Hertogendijk with one of the young visitors; Right: Selfies with one of the Shire stallions and the Percheron

Afterward, the group of mares and foals returned to their pasture in the beautiful English countryside.

Although by our standards, a significant number of draft horses have already been exported to England, the breed is still relatively unknown there. This well-attended open day allowed many people—some of whom had traveled for hours—to become acquainted with "our" breed in a positive way.
A huge thank you to Andrew, Hollie, and their entire team who worked days (and nights!) to make this event possible. We are truly grateful to have been part of this and to have contributed together to the worldwide promotion of our Belgian Draft Horse.

Additional photos at the bottom of the page.