Episode 13: All About Percherons
Hello! Welcome to Flip N Tails: a tiny podcast for BIG horse lovers! I’m a horse girl who loves to ride and each week I’ll share about what I learn and love about horses. Today is episode thirteen and it’s all about Percherons.
Imagine you walk into a barn, and you’ve got your ponys, you’ve got your horses and you’ve got your draft horses. Well the Percheron is going to be the biggest of them all. And most of them are gray and some of them are black.
What are they? A horse or a pony?
They’re actually a draft horse because they stand between 16 to 17.2 hands high.
What is a draft horse?
Well a draft horse is like a big horse. Big feet, bigger than other horses. They usually have thicker manes, bigger bodies, bigger faces and when they trot or canter it’s instead of dum-dum-dum-dum-dum, it’s like DUM DUM DUM DUM DUM. It’s a lot slower because they have to carry all that weight up and down, up and down, up and down.
Average Size
The average Percheron horse was about 16 to 17.2 hands high, but the biggest horse in the world was 21 hands high. It would take a ladder to get on that horse.
Fun Fact
Their influences are the Norman Cob, and the Arabian.
Describe them.
They can mostly be gray or black, hardworking, loving, and they “Perch” on our hearts.
What makes them different?
They’re one of the only draft horses to have no feathering. So feathering is like a lot of extra hair near the fetlock, which is like the ankle for a horse. When I say they’re one of the only draft horses to not have feathering, I’m talking about a Shire or a Belgian horse, they would have feathering, or maybe a Clydesdale.
What are they known for?
Well they’re known for their size, temperament, color and stuff they do like pulling carriages.
What makes them so cool?
Well they originated in a place called Le Perch Normandy, giving them their name, the Percherons.
What I love about them
I think their size is amazing. The biggest horse in the world was a Percheron. So I have a story for you about tacking up a Percheron called Tori, at our barn. I couldn’t reach the top of her back, so I got one of the stools they have there for littler kids, and I still couldn’t reach the top of her back with a brush. So I think I had to ask another teacher to help me brush her down.
Here’s a tip for tacking up big horses
So here’s my trick about putting the reins over the head of a really big horse if you’re littler. So basically you take… so there’s the bit which is the thing that goes in their mouth that helps you steer, and then there’s the reins right next to the bit, you take hold of those and then you send the reins up and flip it up over their ears and head. So think of them like a jump rope. And that normally works.
Famous Example
The biggest Percheron, and horse in the world was a Percheron named Dr. LeGear, and he was 21 hands high at the withers, and about 3,000lbs.
So that’s it! Now you know a tiny bit more about this special horse. Join us next time and subscribe for another episode of Flip N Tails: a tiny podcast for BIG horse lovers!