DRAUGHT WORKS AT 45 YEARS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25935, 15 October 1949, Page 5

DRAUGHT WORKS AT 45 YEARS

A roan draught gelding sold at the Rangiora sale this week is claimed by a former owner, who watched the sale, to be 45 years old. This man, who was formerly a shingle contractor, recognised the horse at once, mainly because of his rather unusual blue-roan colour, and was able to give his history. The horse was working at delivering coal when the shingle contractor bought him in 1921 at the age of 17. He went straight to work on shingle drays and was regarded as a worker above the average. It was necessary to put him in a full dray of shingle to get him to stand still while he was clipped; and in his heyday as a shingle carter he could pull an empty dray from Sydenham to Ashley in five hours. Many years ago the horse left the shingle business, and up till he was sold this week, was doing ordinary farm work, and not loafing on it, either. He was in lightish condition this week. His top teeth were in fair order, but his bottom row had gone. He made £4 10s. In 1921 his price was £4l. He has been bought by a farmer near Kaiapoi, and looks like having some years’ work in him still. The meeting between the old horse and the shingle contractor was quite a reunion. The contractor’s claim naturally came in for a deal of very close examination by the people at the sale who heard the story, but he stuck to it, and declared that his only misgiving was that the horse might be not 45, but 48 years old.