On Your Farm

Elinor Goodman meets a Devon farmer who has swapped tractors and combine harvesters for heavy horses. But it's not all plain sailing, as Elinor sees when one heavy horse with a mighty powerful kick refuses to be broken. One hundred years ago, heavy horses were used on farms throughout England to work the land. But as mechanisation has taken over, these Shires, Clydesdales and Suffolk Punches have little use on most 21st century fields and the skills used to break them in and handle them are gradually being lost.