THIS PUBLICATION PROUDLY SPONSORED BY THE SHIRES OF LUSCOMBE SHIRE HORSES AND THE PEOPLE INTERESTED IN THEM Volume 3, Issue May 2003 STUD PROFILE—THE SHIRES OF LUSCOMBE The Shires of Luscombe was established in early 1992 after a search of more than 10 years for shire horses available for sale in Australia. Coming from a horse orientated background this was my life dream, to own one of these majestic horses. I am now the proud owner of 8 purebred Shires, and have bred many during the past 10 years. The Shire Horses being bred by The Shires of Luscombe, just north of Tamborine in Queensland are from very famous shire bloodlines. Our breeding mares are “Cedars Annabella” a black 18 hand mare. “Cedars Natasha” a brown 17 hand mare. Our Imported English Mares are “Aldreth Lady Jane” and “Middlecott Victoria”. Jane is a bay with four white feet and stands 16.2 hands, while Victoria is grey and stands 19 hands. Our stallion is ”Luscombe Whats Wanted”, Ted for short. His dam, Middlecott Victoria was imported in foal with him in 1996. His sire is the black shire stallion Ruskington Harvester. Ted is the only grey shire stallion in Australia and stands 18 hands. He has sired many superb shire foals since he started standing at stud 2 years ago. “Annabella” and “Natasha” are both out of imported mares and by the imported shire Stallion “Ladbrook Edward”, who stood 19 hands and was a winner of many titles and ribbons at the Sydney Royal. Now deceased “Ladbrook Edward” was imported as a nine month old colt from England. He was the first of the Shires to be reintroduced into Australia. Their Grandsire “Ladbrook Aristocrat” was sold to the U.S.A. for a record price. Their Great Grandsire “Ladbrook Invader” was listed in the 1980 Guiness Book of Records as the Worlds tallest living horse standing 19.2 hands. “Jane” was imported from England as a six month old foal in the mid eighties. She can trace her family tree back many generations. Her sire came from a stud that had been breeding shires for over 200 years. “Victoria” was imported in foal from NZ in June 1996. She was born in England and transported to NZ in 1990. Victoria comes from a very old line of shires and has won at shows in England, NZ and Australia. She stands 19hands tall and is the only grey shire mare to be imported into Australia this Century. Victoria gave birth to her first colt foal “Luscombe What’s Wanted” on 30th December 1996. Our intention is to continue to breed quality shire horses as well as look at importing some more shire’s to assist with the breeding program here at Luscombe. We still remain the only Shire Stud in Australia who has horses of Black, Brown, Bay and Grey, which are the only acceptable colours for Shire horses. We are very proud of this, it took a quiet a few years to achieve this. For a number of years The Shires of Luscombe was the largest breeder of Shires in Australia and continues to produce at least 3 Shire foals each year. As well as breeding purebred Shires, our stallion covers thoroughbred mares to produce heavy riding horses suitable for eventing and jumping. We also offer fresh semen with chilled semen and frozen semen shipped anywhere in Australia and are currently in the process of obtaining semen for export. Our Stallion Ted is a lovely quiet horse who lives in the paddock like the mares do. He is treated like a ‘normal’ horse and has physical contact with the mares and foals on a daily basis. This, we believe, makes him happy and keeps him part of the herd. Of course not all stallions would be able to live this lifestyle due to their temperament. Our stud is the largest in Queensland; we have shown Shires at the Sydney, Brisbane and Toowoomba Royal Shows, very successfully. We also attend other local shows where we compete in the mixed draught horse classes, again successfully. Our mare Middlecott Victoria was the subject of a series of postcards, available in Japan in 1997. The Shires of Luscombe have also made numerous appearances on the TV program “Totally Wild”, Local news and Good Morning Australia just to name a few. They have also been covered by national and international magazines and have been featured in many local newspapers. Each year we have Uni students visit the stud while they are touring the Brisbane Royal Show. They come as part of their equine studies. The foals bred by The Shires of Luscombe have gone to Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. We have bred Black, Brown, Bay and Grey foals, most of which are sold long before birth. In the early days we were one of the few studs who actually worked their horses. They are broken in to harness and work, though these days the mares are used only for breeding. We are only too happy to help anyone interested in obtaining a shire for work or pleasure. Sue Bailey: THE SHIRES OF LUSCOMBE (07) 55 464 106 [email protected] Luscombe Whats Wanted Middlecott Victoria (IMP UK) & Cedars Annabella Luscombe Whats Wanted Luscombe Albert Luscombe Lady Grey Many Thanks Helene Four times in the last week alone, when people have realised that we own Shire Horses, we have been asked the question: “Do you own Archie?” – by our butcher, a local bus driver, a business customer and in a casual conversation at a service station on an inland hay trip! Also during our stay at Sydney Royal we must have been asked about Archie’s whereabouts literally hundreds of times. This all came about through a chance encounter Helene Scarf had with a Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) of NSW staff member who saw Archie, Helene’s big gelding Cedars Archibold. Helene, always seeking to promote Shire Horses, suggested a promotional idea for this year’s Sydney Royal Easter Show, using Archie. The RAS took up the idea and the rest is history. The result was a phenomenally successful promotion of Archie at the Sydney Royal. I don’t think even Helene would have anticipated the overwhelming response Archie’s promotion received. Indeed the Shire Horse breed received enormous promotion through Archie. Along with the flying pigs Archie was undoubtedly the most well known attraction at the Show. And it only cost the RAS basically Archie’s keep! Articles on Archie were in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Land in prime positions. He was on the Royal Easter Show web-site front page. He was also on most Sydney television channels and Helene was interviewed on 2GB radio. He is obviously now a State wide celebrity. Helene gave up 5 days of her own time to man a stall where Archie was on display to the public at the Show, an exhausting exercise. This was as well as exhibiting 5 horses in the Shire Horse classes herself, a mammoth effort. She made all this effort in order to promote our wonderful breed, and it was amazingly successful. For the last 12 months Helene has also worked to help set up our own Shire Horse info internet site. All Shire Horse breeders can use this site for the payment of a very reasonable fee. I felt compelled to write this article in order to sincerely thank Helene and Greg Scarf for being such fantastic supporters of Shire Horses in Australia. After first importing pure bred Shire Horses in 1981 they have been tireless promoters of the breed. Now, 22 years down the track, Helene is still so enthusiastic that she is prepared to work so hard, and to give up so much time, in order to let more people experience and learn about Shire Horses. I’m sure all Shire Horse enthusiasts will agree, a tribute to Helene is well deserved. Also many thanks to Archie who took the constant attention in his stride, remaining friendly and calm, doing his bit for the reputation of Shire Horses in general. Helen Kuiper Readers may be interested to note, Helene and Archie media coverage reached Queensland. They appeared on Sunrise and the 6pm Nine News.Well done Helen and Archie for flying the Shire flag. English idioms about horses To eat like a horse. To eat a great deal. To work like a horse To work very hard. Straight from the horse's mouth From a person closely concerned with the subject discussed Hold your horses Stop, wait. To flog a dead horse To keep trying to get satisfaction from something that cannot or can no longer give it. A dead horse matter No longer of concern Get on one's high horse To become offended in an angry and proud way Horse sense Common sense A dark horse A person or thing whose true character and worth is unknown but may be better than is thought A horse of another colour Quite a different matter Lock the stable door after the horse has bolted Take action too late A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse Indirect suggestion is all that is necessary, no need to spell it out. Put the cart before the horse To do things in the wrong order A willing horse A keen worker You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink You can make it easy for a person to do what you want, but you cannot force them to do it if they do not want to.