Here’s to the future

THE future is looking good for working horses – that’s the genuine belief of Tom Nixon, who is enjoying a lifetime of working with the big fellas at his home in Hook, Hampshire.

Tom’s relationship with his horses is second to none and he was recently engaged to work with his horses in cultivating the Royal London Parks.

“That was great,” he said. “We went back to the roots and loved it – and the ground loved it too. What we have been doing to our soil for some years now is beyond belief and I think people are waking up to the fact that while tractors might be quick, they are not compatible with healthy soil.

“We have been poisoning ourselves for some time – horses have the answer. It is proven beyond argument that where horses have been used to work on the ground, that soil and what it grows has improved remarkably. That’s why I say the future for heavy horses has never been better.”

Tom loves working with Shires and Clevelands in particular.

“All heavy horses are great but I love the Shires most of all, they are so big and strong but also very, very intelligent,” he says. “They want to work with you as a team, they listen to instructions and you can’t faze them. I have worked fields with them one day and harnessed them up to pull a hearse the next and they are always, always up for it. They just love working.

“We do logging, ploughing, pulling, you name it, and I go to bed every night looking forward to early the next morning and another day of working with my friends, these great horses.”