In January of this year Dr. Mary Higham gave the society a talk on ‘Medieval Horse Rearing’. In recent issues of the Mourholme Magazine Neil Stobbs has given us extracts from a diary of one of the Whinnerahs, of Warton Hall, who were noted horse breeders, especially shire horses. In one of the ‘Over the Gate’ Series by Jeff Swift, in the Westmorland Gazette (15 October 1999) the Whinnerah’s are mentioned. The article was entitled ‘Stud on the Rounds’, and this is given below with the writer’s permission.

Stud on the Rounds by Jeff Swift.
Looking over the gate earlier this century (i.e. The twentieth) you could well have seen a proud stallion ‘being walked’ or ‘travelled’ by his groom on his way round the district on a scheduled route to visit mares in season. The stud groom was usually, but not always, a man of small stature, as that made the stallion look so much bigger.

The gate itself may well have shown signs of having had its lower rails replaced and this could have been due to a mare trying to kick out at the stallion. There were three popular ways of ‘trying’ a mare with the entire (stallion) – one was to introduce them over a gate nose to nose: you never backed the mare up to the gate for a start, you let the first overtures be made nose to nose. Another way was to have your mare in a loose box with the bottom half of the door closed and with the mare’s head at the door, then the entire would be led up towards her to see if she would reject his advances, if she did then the horse was safe from her back feet.

Yet another way was to lead the pair out of sight of one another until they met at the corner of a building then, as with the other two ways, the groom would decide whether or not the time was right to ‘try’ the mare.

The great shires and Clydesdales stood 17 hands and more and were proud and magnificent animals with coats that shone like glass from regular grooming and correct feeding. They had huge feet and were always well shod to cope with walking on hand surfaces – and woe betide you if you were unfortunate enough to get a clout from one of those feet.

In 1919 Messrs. E & J Whinnerah of Warton, near Carnforth, had 24 pure-bred Shire stallions either travelling in North Lancashire and South Westmorland or hired out to society throughout the land. Nominations were up to four guineas (£4.20) per mare depending on the entire chosen. They had names like Mythop Rob Roy, Duke’s Duplicate, Warton Landmark, Warton Mascot, Lord Lindsay, and Lord Lancaster who must have been an outstanding horse as his fee was eight guineas.

Many of the horses at the Warton Stud had been winners and champions at the London Shire Horse Show which was the largest and most famous in the land. Occasionally, a groom would ride on a cob and lead the stallion, one or two drove a trap with the entire following behind, but mostly the man walked and was frequently stopped on his round by people who would have a chat and admire his charge. They did not stop too long, as the entire would become restless and start stamping about and pawing the ground anxious to be on his way to the next mare.

That is a flavour of how they did things in those days.

An advertisement in the Lancaster Gazette, 20 February, 1830, shows the sort of travelling this practice entailed for the stallion and his minders:

To cover this season, that thoroughbred Bachelor, the property of Wm Nicholson of Hackthorpe Nr Lowther. Blood mares £5-5-0, other mares £2-2-0 each. He will travel the following route on Saturdays through Endmoor, Crooklands and Low Brow to Kirby Lonsdale all night. Sundays through Burton, Carnforth, Bolton, and Slyne to Lancaster all night. Mondays through Milnthorpe Levens Beathwate Green and Lindale to C. Hodgson all night etc.

These fees are in line with those given in the first article, which is perhaps worth noting given that price stability has not been a feature in the twentieth century, but was for long periods then.

Nowadays, of course, the pantomimes, described by Jeff Swift, to limit the damage to property and limb has been much reduced with the appearance of a middle man, the artificial inseminator, with his syringe!

Published in the Mourholme Magazine Issue 43 2001