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BIG NEWS!!
The history of the Shires of Luscombe begins in early 1992 when we purchased our first Shire cross gelding, Toby. He was sired by Cedars Albert and out of an Australian Draught Horse Mare. The search for purebred Shires begins much earlier than this though.
Having grown up with the knowledge that my Grandfather had a team of shire horses on the dairy at Nerang in QLD and my father also used shire horses while he was delving bore drains in north western Queensland. I have never considered owning any other pure heavy breed, it always had to be Shires. Since my early teens I had been interested in having Shire horses.
Unfortunately the fact that there were no purebred Shire Horses for sale at the time in Australia was a major stalling point. When I read with great interest in 1981 one young colt was imported from England I knew I could finally realise my dream of owning one of these majestic horses. Then a little while later 13 mares and another stallion were imported from England. They were to become the foundation stock for purebred Shire Horses in Australia.
Unfortunately these mares were not available for sale nor were the initial group of foals from them. So it was a 12 year wait until we located the first two English registered Shire mares to have as our foundation stock. We purchased the only two available for sale in Australia at the time. They were Cedars Annabella and Cedars Natasha. We purchased them on photographs of Natasha and none of Annabella, only the breeders word that we would not be dissapointed. So they arrived at Luscombe. Natasha disembarked first we were pleased with her, then I saw Annabella, she was a massive, her dusty bottom pointing towards the exit of the truck. For an instant her breeders words flooded my head, "send her back if you don't like her she doesn't have much white". I knew instantly that this mare was going nowhere other than my paddock. She was the biggest Shire mare I had seen, such a gentle nature to match, not a care in the world. She was huge, 18 hands tall and weighed over one ton. I have not seen a mare as heavy as her ever!
Since purchasing Annabella and Natasha we purchased two imported English Shire mares, Aldreth Lady Jane and Middlecott Victoria. Jane came to Australia as a six month old foal in 1986 and then imported Middlecott Victoria in 1996. Victoria was the first grey mare imported into Australia since the early 1900's. These four mares went on to become the foundation mares for The Shires of Luscombe. Our mare Victoria was imported in foal, she produced our stallion Luscombe Whats Wanted. These four mares, all purebreds went on to produce fantastic shire shire foals for us.
In 2009 we imported 2 purebred shires from England, Stonemoor Silver Lady and her filly foal, Ddwydry Bombers Beauty. We purchased Lady in foal and weeks later she produced Beauty for us. After spending a few months in England prior to export they were finally on the plane here. They arrived during a dreadful heatwave of 45 degrees plus. But they got through it and are now enjoying the cooler winter temperatures here at Luscombe.
Many years have gone by since we purchased our first purebred shires, we breed quality foals and they can be found in QLD, NSW, VIC and SA. Some of our stallion Teds progeny can be found in the South Australian Police Force as Mounted Police horses.
We produce quality foals with imported bloodlines. Our foals are well handled prior to leaving home. They are all registered with the English Shire Horse Society in England.
We are located between Brisbane and the Gold Coast in Queensland, in the picturesque Albert Valley. This is an ideal location for growing strong healthy foals. The night temperatures in winter drops to below -3 degrees which helps to produce horses with strong dense bones.
We do have visitors to the horses by appointment only. We are only too happy to help others on their journey towards owning or breeding Shire Horses and have helped many people achieve their goal of owning purebred Shire Horses.
The Shires of Luscombe is the home of Luscombe Whats Wanted the first grey Shire stallion in Australia. Now, joining Ted is his son Luscombe Magnus, who is also grey. Both Ted and Magnus are registered with the Shire Horse Society in England and hold current service books. They are the only grey shire stallions in Australia.
We are also the breeders of Luscombe Nodram, The Worlds Tallest Horse, standing 20.2 hands at 7 years old. You can check out Noddy (Nodram) on the tallest horse page on this website. He has a cult following who seek him out at every appearance.
I hope you enjoy reading about our horses and the interesting history of the Shire Horse, enjoy the pictures on the Gallery page. Remember to visit regularly as the website is always updated. Enjoy your visit.
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