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Digger is One HUGE Horse!

By Alex in Animal on Jan 26, 2008 at 4:11 am


Digger, a 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) tall Clydesdale, is one big horse. – the biggest in Britain, in fact (and he’s still growing!):

Eileen Gillen, farm manager, said: "He is the largest horse we have ever had. He is the equivalent of a growing teenage boy –never out of the fridge. Heaven knows what size he is going to end up."

With his head up Digger measures close to 9ft. Horses are traditionally measured in four-inch "hands" from the ground to the withers, which is the highest point of the spine before it becomes the animal’s neck.

Digger is now neck and neck with Cracker, a shire horse in Lincolnshire measured at 19 hands and two inches in 2005.

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  1. Louise
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 8:55 am

    Digger is more than a big horse - he's a proud member of the race of shire horses. The shire horse is the descendant of the medieval Great Horse, which was brought to England in 1066 by William the Conqueror. Their numbers have been on the rise in Great Britain after almost becoming extinct in the 1940s.

  2. Aeris
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 11:49 am

    aren't all shire horses, uh, rather big? I remember having ridden one that was 2.10m in Germany. I don't like riding tall horses normally, I much rather ride Arabian horses (~1.50m or something like that), but with the shires it is extremely impressive how the earth is "shaking" when you are galopping (sp?) over the fields..

  3. Ashley
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 11:51 am

    I'd like to point out to Louise that he is a Clydesdale, not a Shire, and it is a particular accomplishment for a Clydesdale to be as tall as a Shire. The breeds were developed separately--the Shire in England and the Clydesdale in Scotland.

  4. Ashley
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 11:52 am

    Also in answer to Aeris, Clydesdales don't usually get above 18 hands, and the record is a Shire at 21 (and change) hands.

  5. Vako
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

    I think I will call him... "Tall Pony".

  6. Jacki
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    Wonder if horses could have tumours on a pituitary gland or something just like humans...

  7. Aeris
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    Ashley: ah, thanks for the info :) as i have mentioned, i much rather deal with smaller horses, Arabian and similar, and thus don't pay attention to the bigger ones. By the way, in German we distinguish them not only by breeds but also, much more generally, by something we call "full blood", "warm blood", "Iberian", "Small Horses" and "cold blood" - what are the English names for that?

    And does anyone have an idea how to get rid of my partner's ridiculous idea that horses will eat him? (no, all rational arguments don't work)...

  8. stacyj
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    Sometimes I wish there were a way to 'favorite' comments here - Vako, you made me laugh out loud =)

    And Aeris, why would you want to rid your partner of such a charmingly amusing phobia? Cultivate it for fun and entertainment! Dress him up like a bag of oats and send him out amongst the horsies ...

  9. Ashley
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    Haha! I like Stacyj's idea of dressing him up and sending him out.

    Aeris, we have warmbloods as a generic breed, hotbloods like Arabians and Thoroughbreds, drafts (probably your cold bloods), and ponies (shorter breeds). What are Iberians?

  10. Aeris
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    stacy: because if he keeps his morbid fear of horses, he will never end up buying me one . or accompany me on some trips... also, when it comes to dressing up, i'd have to dress him up like a giant carrot, he's too tall and skinny for a bag of anything. :D

    when it comes to comments though, Vako's "joke" too obvious to still be funny... but props to him for having the balls to actually say it :D

  11. Ali S.
    Jan 26th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    Shire horses? I must be reading too much (just restarted reading Lord of the Rings) because I have a sudden vision of Hobbits and Digger on an adventure.

  12. stacyj
    Jan 27th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

    @ Aeris: I think it was the obviousness that made me laugh, I'm not usually a "so stupid it's funny" type but for whatever reason, "I think I'll name him Tall Pony" tickled me in much the same way that "Mister Splashy Pants" from that whale naming contest did =) Your idea of someone dressed up like a carrot likewise just made me giggle ... apparently "sophisticated" isn't exactly an apt term for my sense of humor =P

    (and Ali S., thank you, I'm glad there were other folks who immediately lept to the LOTR connection when reading this post, too ...)

  13. Louise
    Jan 27th, 2008 at 12:55 pm

    @Ashley - Thanks for explaining the origin of Clydesdales to me, which I hadn't known before. What is the breeding relationship between Clydesdales and Shires?

    My grandmother was always quite proud of her own maternal grandfather, who had driven a six-hitch of Clydesdales as a brewery teamster in Boston for thirty year at the end of the 19th century. Any man who could handle six of those, day in and day out, through clattering city streets in all kinds of weather, must have both stamina and ferocious will.

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