Loyal Royal Parks Shire Horse Retires To The Horse Trust

The Horse Trust, based in Speen, Buckinghamshire, is delighted to welcome 19 year old, black Shire gelding, Jed, who has retired after nearly 10 years service with The Royal Parks Agency. Jed, who wore a special retirement sash, was formally retired in May 2012 by HM The Queen accompanied by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and in the presence of mounted members of Riding for the Disabled. Her Majesty presented him with a retirement rosette during the 15 May “Wild London” Diamond Jubilee Event in Richmond Park to honour his decade of loyal service. This magnificent heavy horse, who stands at an impressive 17.3 hh, was originally purchased as one of a pair from Bass Brewery, Burton on Trent in 1998 to help with the estate management of The Royal Parks. His work, which was predominantly in Richmond Park, included, in the summer months, road verge cutting, rolling bracken to preserve grassland and chain harrowing bridleways and paddocks. In the winter he worked extracting timber and bringing it back to the sawmill for processing. This wood would then be used to repair fences and build special crates to protect the trees from the grazing deer. Jed was semi-retired 2 years ago when he started to suffer from arthritis and when, sadly, his working partner, Forte, passed away. After that Jed was no longer required to pull anything behind him but he continued to thoroughly enjoy meeting people at events such as the Heavy Horse Parade in Portsmouth with The Royal Parks Foundation and the Barnes Parade on Wimbledon Common. Sandra Croxall from The Royal Parks Team said, “Jed has been a loyal serving Shire and invaluable to the work undertaken in the Royal Parks, as well as undertaking public engagements, meet and greets and local community events.” Sandra continued, “His time has now come to be retired and live out the rest of his days peacefully and we are delighted he has a wonderful, new home at The Horse Trust where he can do just that!” Jeanette Allen, Chief Executive of The Horse Trust said, “Jed was turned out in the fields last week with rescue mare, Crunchie, and he has followed her around devotedly ever since.” She continued, “It was lovely to see Jed cantering around the fields and he couldn’t have looked happier with his new home and his new friend.”

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