red750 Posted March 23, 2023 Share Posted March 23, 2023 https://fb.watch/jru20TWJ4a/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Clydesdales. Also used as pit ponies and hauling baker's carts, Lovely temperament... Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 It is a crying shame that these gentle giants, evolved to make Mankind's work easier, have nearly reached extinction because Mankind found other sources of power. Clydesdales, Suffolk Punch, Shire, Percheron - 31 recognised breeds, are now kept in existence by dedicated lovers of horses. It is interesting that the word we use for the speed at which work can be done, "horsepower", which was established by Watt as the power needed to lift 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute, "horsepower" was the thing that led to the demise of animal power in transport and farming. Internal and external combustion engines, and later electric motors can produce more horsepower per unit of time than Dobbin. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacesailor Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Pit ponies are a separate breed of small hores. Then there's the ' Big arese'ed canal barge horse ' , another separate breed , thats only just been rediscovered . Horse' s for course 's ' Clydesdale horses ' are big footed to walk on plowed fields . Barge horses are huge in the rear quarters, but not big footed , as the canal towpath is hard surfaced . And they out perform Clydesdale's at pulling power . spacesailor 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Koreelah Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 I remember one uncle on Comboyne had a working Clydesdale until the mid 60s. With hooves like big frying pans, it had a good grip on that steep country. When it died, it fell and took out a panel of a stout two-rail fence. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 I come from a long line of coal miners who used clydesdales. Some never got to see the sun it was said once they started working. What use would a small horse be lugging coal?. Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Larger horses, such as varieties of Cleveland Bay which generally stands between 16 and 16.2 hands (64 and 66 inches, 163 and 168 cm), could be used on higher underground roadways, but on many duties small ponies no more than 12 hands (48 inches, 122 cm) high were needed. Shetlands were a breed commonly used because of their small size, but Welsh Russian, Devonshire and Cornish ponies also saw extensive use in England. The hand is a non-SI unit of measurement of length standardized to 4 in (101.6 mm). Although measurements between whole hands are usually expressed in what appears to be decimal format, the subdivision of the hand is not decimal but is in base 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Some of those small horses have a very cranky disposition. . Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 2 hours ago, facthunter said: Some of those small horses have a very cranky disposition. . Nev Small horse syndrome 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Might have been ambitious or a cripple also. Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Litespeed Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 If I had been shoved in a mine to slave away and never run green grass fields- I would be pissed off as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Most "Pit Ponies" I know of were Clydesdales and they have a lovely temperament . BIG with Hairy feet. They also used to pull Baker's carts. Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmccarthy Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 The horses were difficult to lower down the shaft slung under the cage. Then they grew fat under ground, and couldn't be pulled out again until they were put on a diet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetrack Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 What did they do with all the horseshit from pit ponies?? It must have half-filled the mine after a while? Did they shovel it all up regularly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty_d Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 36 minutes ago, onetrack said: What did they do with all the horseshit from pit ponies?? It must have half-filled the mine after a while? Did they shovel it all up regularly? Maybe they just made the mine 50% deeper than it needed to be... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacesailor Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Good for growing ' mushrooms ' . AND , they did in at least one coalminers. I the UK . spacesailor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Working hard and only being fed the minimum doesn't make fat horses. Many of them stayed underground for extended Periods and couldn't see when they first re-emerged. Maybe they had a poo bag under their tails. Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetrack Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 I was surprised to see that pit ponies were only introduced after the employment of children and females underground was banned in the 1840's. They were largely well looked after, although some of the miners treated them badly, obviously having little compassion for animals. They had stables for the horses and the horseshit was collected and taken out of the mine. I always thought being an underground coal miner in that era was the worst type of job, now I know there was one worse job - being the horseshit collector in underground coal mines in the 1800's. https://www.horsejournals.com/popular/history-heritage/pit-ponies-ghosts-coal-mines#:~:text=“Working in the dark did,dust%2C as did the miners. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmccarthy Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Horses were used underground in Victoria from about 1863 and were used in Broken Hill from early days. We had a bad rat problem in the 1960s-70s caused by rats that had come in with the horse feed decades earlier and now survived on rotting hessian, timber and food scraps. We had all sorts of rat traps and metal lunch boxes (crib tins) to keep the cribs safe. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Vegemite Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 As a child I used to feed the local bakery Clydesdales sugar cubes (yes we had sugar in cube form back then, circa 1950's). Toongabbie NSW. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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