Ruth Jeffre-Tanner's mission to keep Shire horse breed alive

Ruth Jeffre-Tanner has dedicated her life to helping keep the Shire and Clydesdale horse breeds alive in Australia by building up a heavy horse herd at MonJes Lodge at Westbury and promoting draught horses at every opportunity.

A regular in the show ring at agricultural shows such as Westbury and Deloraine where draught horses are featured, the giants of the horse world have become a passion for her and husband Ken, who run a fairy floss food van as their day job.

Their paddocks are a scene from a different era, with pure Shires and crosses and Clydesdales grazing peacefully, one with a foal at foot and another foal on the way.

When Ken was a child draught horses were used on his family’s farm, carting hay bales and digging spuds, so the couple have all the harness and gear that’s been handed down plus a sledge.

With less than 15 registered Shires in the state and numbers as low as 350 nationally, the breed is classified as critically endangered by the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia. 

Globally, there are fewer than 3000 individuals left, where once they were common on farms before the advent of tractors.

Ruth first rode a draft horse at age five and has always owned Clydesdales, which are also on the endangered list.

When she fell in love with a Shire stallion named Southern Cross Boxer there was no looking back and the stud was launched. 

Ruth is on the committee of Shire Horse Breeders Australia, which, along with the Shire Horse Society of Australia, works to preserve and grow the population and maintain an open online Stud Book to track registrations and lineages.

“I’d love to see more people get involved in draught horses to keep the numbers up, and having started a Facebook page that has gone nuts I’m pleased to see there is so much interest,” Ruth said.

SHBA will hold a workshop and information day on November 15 at Westbury focusing on artificial insemination – a critical strategy to keep the breed alive with a limited gene pool.

Hoof care and nutrition will be covered on the day and there will be local and interstate speakers plus stallholders with information on equine massage, saddle fitting, worming and more. 

Ruth is this week having a mare prepared for AI, having lost her 16-year-old stallion, Mr Dynamite, to cancer earlier in the year.

The straws will come from the same stallion that produced Boxer – Southern Cross Apollo –  bred by Peter McKeon in Victoria.

That stallion is now deceased but his genetics can still be utilised.

With the semen purchase, multiple scans and checks by vets, the investment in mare Ashanti and getting a foal on the ground will be at least $5000.

“The mare and the foal will be wrapped up in cotton wool,” Ruth laughed. “It’s an expensive process and if it doesn’t work the first time we have to go through it all again.

“Eventually we hope to have another lovely Shire horse to show.”