World’s oldest horse (head!)

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SilverLinings

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Bit of a shame they only stuffed poor Billy's head, although as he was known for getting hangry maybe the body was too big to save! It is nice that the head and stories about him still exist as he seems to have been a big part of local folklore.

It would be interesting if they were able to actually age the horse as claiming he lived to 62 is a stretch, and as he was born in the 1700s I wouldn't be surprised if several years were added to his age as time went on.
 
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SilverLinings

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If anyone is interested I've found more information about Old Billy and his life here, including a couple of pictures of him (the colour one was too large a file to add to this post):

www.historic-uk.com

Old Billy The Barge Horse - Historic UK

Holder of the record for equine longevity, Old Billy the barge horse is said to have died at the ripe old age of 62...
www.historic-uk.com www.historic-uk.com

1721383313134.png
 
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SilverLinings

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asmp said:
Why would a horse have cropped ears? What was the purpose for it?
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Ear cropping was fairly common right up until the 1800s. It was usually performed for aesthetic reasons as dainty ears were seen as a sign of quality in gentlemen's horses. As this was a working horse the ears may have been cropped for looks, or it may be the result of an injury or a bizarre veterinary treatment applied to the horse. In the 1700s it was widely thought that different parts of the body were 'connected' to each other, so if you had a problem in one part you applied the treatment to it's paired part. The pairings were bizarre, and in the examples I've read about they were body parts that were nowhere near each other, and appear to have no relationship.

Docking and nicking (and the import of horses with docked or nicked tails) was only made illegal in 1949, but I haven't been able to find a date that ear cropping was outlawed (if there is actually a specific law). It finally fell out of fashion around the mid 1800s. If you look at old paintings and engravings of horses, particularly those from the 1600s and 1700s you can see that the horses are usually portrayed as having disproportionately small ears, as that was thought to be desirable at the time. They also often have relatively small heads (which I doubt they did in real life) as large heads were seen as course and a sign of a common workhorse.
 
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Shoei

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Weirdly my husband was telling me about this horse... he's none horsy and now fully expects my 17 year old to live that long and doesn't understand why I've bought a youngster 😆

I too can't understand how they could verify it. 62 seems very old even now, but back then!
 
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SilverLinings

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SilverLinings said:
Ear cropping was fairly common right up until the 1800s. It was usually performed for aesthetic reasons as dainty ears were seen as a sign of quality in gentlemen's horses. As this was a working horse the ears may have been cropped for looks, or it may be the result of an injury or a bizarre veterinary treatment applied to the horse. In the 1700s it was widely thought that different parts of the body were 'connected' to each other, so if you had a problem in one part you applied the treatment to it's paired part. The pairings were bizarre, and in the examples I've read about they were body parts that were nowhere near each other, and appear to have no relationship.

Docking and nicking (and the import of horses with docked or nicked tails) was only made illegal in 1949, but I haven't been able to find a date that ear cropping was outlawed (if there is actually a specific law). It finally fell out of fashion around the mid 1800s. If you look at old paintings and engravings of horses, particularly those from the 1600s and 1700s you can see that the horses are usually portrayed as having disproportionately small ears, as that was thought to be desirable at the time. They also often have relatively small heads (which I doubt they did in real life) as large heads were seen as course and a sign of a common workhorse.
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Just to clarify, ear cropping in horses for fashion reasons usually consisted of trimming the pinna (the external ear tissue) at the top and sides to produce a smaller, daintier ear. It didn't usually involve the removal of the whole pinna, and wasn't as severe as seen in ear-cropped dogs these days. I still don't think it was acceptable, but it wasn't such an extreme look that they were going for.

In the coloured picture of Old Billy in the site linked above he appears to have correctly shaped ears, but they are unusually small (but not as tiny as in the engraving I posted above). I suspect that he had either had them cropped for fashion (and he had several jobs during his life so he may have started as a poor man's hack or carriage horse), or that the artist has made them look small to be flattering.
 
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Lois Lame

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'Old Billy ... spent almost six decades powering machinery and pulling boats on the River Mersey.'

I was only thinking yesterday of the song Ferry 'Cross the Mersey


Life goes on day after day
Hearts torn in every way

So ferry 'cross the Mersey
'Cause this land's the place I love
And here I'll stay

People they rush everywhere
Each with their own secret care

So ferry 'cross the Mersey
And always take me there
The place I love

People around every corner
They seem to smile and say
We don't care what you name is boy
We'll never turn you away

So I'll continue to say
Here I always will stay

So ferry 'cross the Mersey
'Cause this land's the place I love
And here I'll stay
And here I'll stay
Here I'll stay
 
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