OLD-FASHIONED horse power was celebrated at an annual heavy horse event in Ringwood.

Organised by the Southern Counties Heavy Horse Association, the spring show was once again held at Harbridge Farm, owned by Robert Sampson.

Visitors came to watch 50 heavy horses of all breeds working the land, doing timber demonstrations and showing off their elaborate harnesses and vehicles competing in driving events.

Children enjoyed wagon rides and 30 teams of heavy horses took spectators back to the gentle days of farming life, with skilled farmers ploughing and harrowing the fields with their Shire, Clydesdale, Percheron, and Ardennes animals.

Horses Pride and Griffin from the Fullers brewery were also giving horse-drawn dray rides.

Sara Billinghurst, chairman of the association, said: “The event was a true success and I can’t thank the Sampson family, the horsemen and women and the general public enough for supporting our show.

“Our spring event is one of the largest working horse gatherings in the south and one that we are very proud of. We had the largest number of horses we have seen at this event for a while and fantastic visitor numbers.”

Robert Sampson is the fifth generation of his family to farm at Harbridge on the Somerley estate. His father introduced Percheron horses to the business to help with many jobs around the farm.

Mr Sampson grew up with them and, though he does use a tractor, the Percherons are too close to his heart to give up. He still uses them for regular jobs such as hauling out the winter feed or dragging a four-tonne roller to flatten ruts in the fields.

Percherons come from France and were originally brought over by William the Conqueror. Mr Sampson and his wife Barbara also breed and train the horses for farm working.

Southern Counties is the UK’s oldest heavy horse association and was founded by 10 horse ploughing and heavy horse enthusiasts.

The association now has in excess of 300 members, some of whom own heavy horses themselves.

To find out more about the association visit their website, southerncountiesheavyhorseassociation.co.uk.