Shire Horses Show, the photo impression

The Shire horses Show 2016

​ I've always wanted to see Shire horses in real life. The famous gentle giants, the biggest breed of horses and horses of medieval knights. At last, this year I've got my chance to see them in real! On 17th September this year, in Ermelo in the Netherlands I decided to visit the annual Shire Horse Show. Breeders from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany arrived, as well as English judges and a lot of very beautiful, heavy horses. 

The first thing I noticed was the fact that we were allowed to come quite close to horses and take close up photos, so I tried to make some portraits of the mares and foals. It was amazing to be so close to these magnificent animals. The eyes of the mares were so beautiful and calm, it was so easy to fall in love :)

 Arriving late afternoon, I came just on time to see mares and foal presentation, stallions presentation, champion of the day and the final parade. Most horses were presented in traditional braids and bows. I liked the colour choices of the bows, I think owners really did their best to find a colour combination that suits the shade of their horse's fur. Also, they put a lot of effort into making the feathers on the horse's legs completely white.
 
 Despite the fact that it was a new place for all of these Shires, with a lot of visitors and horses unknown to them, most of them confirmed an opinion about The Shire being "gentle giants" and were very calm. Some others, however, seemed somewhat excited but luckily everything was going fine and safely for people and animals. ​

About 5pm the final parade of all of the horses together began. The big black mare was chosen the best Shire horse bred in The Netherlands. This mare won a lot of titles that day too. She has a striking concave profile, lovely neck and beautiful confirmation, typical for a Shire horse. You can see her among the horses in the video and on the first picture below. 
Some horses were also presented under saddle. Riders were wearing interesting historical costumes or traditional English costumes.

It was fantastic to see these animals from so close and the show was very interesting. I surely hope to see Shires again in future :)
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Thank you for looking here!