At 18 hands, hooves the size of dinner plates and weighing more than a ton each, Lightning and Titan are the size of small elephants. Capable of pulling 10,000 pounds each, these Shire horses hardly feel the light carriage behind them as they walk through a brightly lit Christmas display in Branson, Mo.
The shiny black horses with white feathered feet and white blazes are the “Gentle Giants” of the horse world, mild in temperament and good with kids.
When Mitzi Gordon bought one in 1999, she and husband Shawn had plenty of horse experience, but knew nothing about Shires. That first horse, though, started a love affair with the breed. They sold their Limousin cattle and a business, and Shires for Hire was born. It has been in operation for 16 years.
Shawn was drawn to horses as a boy in Pennsylvania. During camping vacations, he was first in line every night to ride a horse and buggy for hire by the local Amish.
“The Amish man saw that and taught me how to drive, and I got the bug. I started learning from him, but a lot was self-taught,” he recalled.
His company near Brighton, Mo., is an expensive hobby supported by Shawn’s Teamster day job. Sponsorships and support come from Teamsters Local 245, Holman-Howe Funeral Homes and Klingner Cope Family Funeral Home. Then there are fees from weddings, funerals and holiday carriage rides and winnings at state fairs.
It takes all of that to cover costs. Each horse daily eats a square bale of hay and 10 pounds of grain, plus 35 gallons of water.
Harness are an expense as well.
“You can’t buy harness off the rack,” Shawn pointed out. He buys from Amish harness makers, “the last of the craftsmen,” going to Seymour, Mo., for working harness, and to Indiana and Pennsylvania for show harnesses. A working harness costs around $3,000, but a high-end one can cost up to $15,000.
Then there are travel expenses. When traveling with a six-hitch team and one or two spare horses to compete at the Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois state fairs, the convoy consists of an 18-wheeler, several pickups, campers and a crew of six.
Shawn’s right-hand man, trainer and caretaker is Lucas Bouldin, who started helping the Gordons at 8 years old. Lucas drove his first team at 4 and showed at 5.
“I love to show them,” Lucas said.
For the show ring, the horses need a “sensible but athletic.”
“They have to behave and be good movers,” Shawn said. “To watch us go around in a circle may not look like much, but to get eight horses to go around is hard. You’re holding reins for each horse and have about 100 pounds of pull on each arm.”
Lucas added that the show horses “need to be a little bit more high strung, a little on edge.” Judges and the crowds expect to see high-stepping, spirited horses – in contrast to calmer carriage horses.
“We’re proud every time we’re in the arena and haven’t torn anything up,” Shawn laughed. Last year, he was invited to the North America Six-Horse Hitch Classic in Oklahoma City, Okla., where top teams in each draft breed compete for national titles. They had just pulled the shoes on the team when the invitation arrived and so chose not to compete.
Shawn is most proud of performing at the Missouri State Fair.
“I take great pride in that because it’s our state fair, and it’s neat to have a following there,” he said.
Getting ready for the show circuit begins in April. From January through March, the Shires are out to pasture. Come April, some are moved to Conway, Mo., where Lucas and trainer Justin Vestal, start working with them, settling on the show team and driving them every day in town and along gravel roads.
Young Shires in training are teamed with experienced horses, starting as green-broke colts tied up with older horses and gradually introduced to harness.
“The older ones teach their partners,” Shawn said. Many of these young geldings come from a Canadian supplier and can cost $10,000 or more for a Shire of at least 18 hands. With the drafts, you give them a job, and the more they work, the better they are. They get along better when they have a purpose.”
In spite of the constant challenges, he and Shires for Hire are in it for the long haul.
“The core of what I’m about is good presentation and safety. I strive to be on time with clean horses and be safe. Everything else is secondary.
“On the competition side, we’re still striving to get better. The horses are getting better, but I’m not a multimillionaire who can go out and buy anything. It takes hard work and luck,” he said. “I love it, and though I may (complain) every day, I feel blessed that I can do what I love to do.”
