Tally Ho BK Winchester, or Chet as we call him, is under consideration to become a Breyer horse model. Community support is the next key element to this nomination. Please sign this petition to support Chet in his nomination.
He is a special Shire in that he is Platinum, a rare color for a Shire as most are Black, bay or gray. He is also rare as he is being trained in dressage. Chet is 4 years old, 18+ hands tall, weighs about 1700 lbs. and will continue to grow for the next 2 years at least.
Chet was born in Rifle Colorado, hence his name, Winchester. We fell in love with him at 4 months of age and he traveled to Maryland, some 2000 miles, at the age of 6 months. He began his training as a 2 year old with ground driving and his saddle training began at age 3 and dressage training began at 4 where he shows great promise. He won not only his classes at his first dressage show, but also his division and was highpoint winner for the show as well.
Shire horses are on the endangered breed listing for horses by both the UK-based Rare Breeds Survival Trust and the US-based American Livestock Breeds Conservancy due to there being fewer than 2,000 registered in the world. This is despite them having been numbered in the hundreds of thousands at the start of the 20th Century, and despite them having been a feature of British life since the Middle Ages. In 1878, the British organization now known as the Shire Horse Society was created, with the American Shire Horse Association beginning in 1885. The breed was exported from Britain to the United States in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but popularity fell as mechanization increased, reaching a low point in the 1950s and 1960s. Popularity began to increase again in the 1970s and after. There are fewer Shires in the world than Panda Bears, and as such need not only protection, but also promotion.
