WATCH: Alfie, William and Joe the hardworking Shire horses delight viewers online from Shropshire farm
The hardworking animals of an historic working farm in south Shropshire have become unexpected internet celebrities during lockdown, delighting thousands of viewers online.
Acton Scott Farm, near Church Stretton, is home to Shire horses Alfie, Joe and William, Dusty the 23-year-old donkey and Delilah the mule as well as cows, chickens, ducks and more.
Videos on Twitter showing the horses pulling ploughs, spreading muck and helping to make hay have attracted thousands of viewers. At the time of writing, the latest video had accrued more than 16,000 views.
Jak Hickman, who works with the horses, said working with the animals was "an honour and a privilege".
"I am a museum interpreter at Acton Scott, I also am a tutor for our 'working and ploughing with heavy horses' courses together with Simon Trueman, my partner who is the wagoneer and equine manager.
"Simon works the horses and I have been sharing this to people through the Twitter for a few years now.
"It’s an honour and a privilege to work these amazing creatures in such a peaceful organic way and I felt that people could benefit from the peace that the images portray.
"We have three Shires, a donkey and a mule at the farm. William and Alfie the black Shires are 11 and 12, Joe is 14, Dusty our wonderful characterful donkey is 23 and Delilah our mule is 14.
"The horses are our tractors – we farm in the Victorian way so use the horses for everything: making hay, spreading muck, preparing the ground for planting (ploughing, cultivating, harrowing and rolling) then we plant with the horses on the seed drill.
"We also harvest with the horses, everything is shown on my Twitter. Dusty also works little ploughs and rollers and pulls a cart. When we are open to the public we do cart rides too and put kids on the horses' backs, so lovely to see the joy on their faces!
Covid-19 coverage:
"We have been working with the horses for 11 years now. I have been doing the Twitter without really trying to get anything out of it except to share the joy we feel every day working here.
"I am really surprised at the reaction but pleased that we can provide a peaceful haven for people to watch the boys at work. We feel so privileged to still be able to work with the horses so it’s good to be able to share it with others
"We try and answer as many people as we can on Twitter. We can’t wait for people to be able to come back and visit us sometime so we can share with them in person
