The Draft Horse Journal invites you to explore the online version of our magazine, the world's foremost heavy horse & mule publication. This big quarterly, approximately 200 pages per issue, has been serving the trade since 1964. We intend our web site to be the online counterpart of the magazine. If it has to do with draft horses, Belgian horses, Percheron horses, Clydesdale horses, Shire horses, Suffolk horses, Brabant Draft Horses, you'll find it here. Make this your Draft Horse Home on the web.

The Draft Horse Journal invites you to explore the online version of our magazine, the world's foremost heavy horse & mule publication. This big quarterly, approximately 200 pages per issue, has been serving the trade since 1964. We intend our web site to be the online counterpart of the magazine. If it has to do with draft horses, you'll find it here. Make this your "Draft Horse Home" on the web.

Old World Treasure: The Gypsy Cob
An Enchanting Journey to Appleby Fair
Story & photos by Judy Brodland
published in The Draft Horse Journal, Sumer 2010

There is much more to the flashy colored cobs of England–also known as Gypsy horses, Gypsy Vanners and Irish Tinker horses–than meets the eye. The Romany people are charismatic and their horses are charming and inimitable. Those with the reputation for bringing out their best colored cobs uphold an annual event in Cumbria, England, each June known as Appleby Fair, and anyone who is anybody within the Romany circles attends the fair with their best Gypsy horses. It’s a rite of passage for many in the Romany circles of distinction. Stateside, we’ve all seen them cropping up like the February crocus, those sturdy little cob horses in a myriad of colors looking like Old English Sheepdogs with hooves. The gypsy horse wears a lot of hats and in many ways is the all-terrain vehicle. Some call him the ultimate women’s draft horse. But why all the fanfare and the spendy price tags for a horse whose ideal height is about 14 hh, preferably under? Much of the Gypsy Cob’s enchantment is energized by an old world culture sustained and preserved for centuries by the Romany people of Great Britain. [Read More]

I occasionally ask this question when I find myself mentally reviewing some of the cases I have had in the past. It is very difficult to study and practice Veterinary Medicine without forming an opinion on this matter. However, let me tell you about a case I had back in the ‘50s, then you can make up your own mind.

This story begins with a phone call I received during the noon hour on a hot Saturday afternoon in August. A client who farmed about two miles north of town informed me that he had a “sick cow.” She was in the stanchion and he would like me to check her as soon after dinner as I could.

Right after dinner I drove to his place to examine the cow. This was a typical farm of the middle ‘50s time period. The buildings consisted of a house, big red barn, hog house, garage, chicken house, machine shed and a few small outbuildings.

The client farmed about a quarter-section and, like most farmers of the era, he milked a few cows, had some hogs, fed 20 or 30 steers and kept several hundred chickens. In the grove was a small flock of sheep; just to keep the weeds down. On the yard there was a big old friendly black shepherd-cross dog patrolling the area, keeping everything in order. The barn and outbuildings were home to several non-descript cats.