About Us
“Shire Horses had been a dream of mine for most of the early part of my life.”
The Shires of Luscombe begins in early 1992 when I purchased my first Shire cross gelding, Toby. He was sired by Cedars Albert and out of an Australian Draught Horse Mare. Searching for purebred Shires began 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 childhood I had wanted to own Shire horses. So I began my search for one when I was in my teens.
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. Geldings were also imported by Swan Brewery in Western Australia. These shires were to become the foundation stock for purebred Shire Horses in Australia.
These mares, some still yearlings, were not available for sale nor were the initial group of foals from them. So it was a 12 year wait until I located the first two English registered Shire mares to have as my foundation stock. So my stud Shires of Luscombe began when I purchased the only two Shire mares available for sale in Australia at the time. They were Cedars Annabella and Cedars Natasha. I purchased them on photographs of Natasha and none of Annabella, only the breeders word that I would not be disappointed. So they arrived at Luscombe. Natasha disembarked first from the horse transporter, I was 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 1200kg. I have not seen a mare in Australia as heavy as her ever!
Annabella and Natasha were not to remain my only mares for long, a short time later imported English Shire mares, Aldreth Lady Jane and Middlecott Victoria joined them here at Luscombe. Jane came to Australia as a six month old foal in 1986 and I then imported Middlecott Victoria in 1996. Victoria was the first grey Shire mare imported into Australia since the early 1900’s. These four mares went on to become the foundation mares for the Shires of Luscombe. My mare Victoria was imported in foal, she produced my stallion Luscombe Whats Wanted. These four mares, all went on to produce fantastic shire foals for the stud. Those foals can be found in all Australian States.
In 2009 I imported 2 more purebred shires from England, Stonemoor Silver Lady and her filly foal, Ddrydwy Bombers Beauty. I purchased Lady in foal and weeks later she produced Beauty for me. 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. But they got through it and are now once again enjoying cooler winter temperatures here at Luscombe.
After the importation of Lady and Beauty, I decided to import some frozen semen from the wonderful black shire stallion Ddrydwy Drayhorse Ace of Spades. He is jet black with four white feet, and a blaze to match. He stands 18 hands and is a true gentleman. No doubt over the years to come there will be more importations of the mighty Shire to join those already here at the Shires of Luscombe.
Many years have gone by since I purchased my first shires, I breed quality foals and they can be found in QLD, NSW, VIC, SA and Tasmania. Some of my stallion Teds’ progeny can be found in the South Australian Police Force as Mounted Police horses.
The Shires of Luscombe produce quality foals with imported bloodlines. Our foals are well handled prior to leaving home. They are all registered with the Shire Horse Society in England.
The stud is 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 drop to below -3 degrees which helps to produce horses with strong dense bones.
Organic soaps are also made here at the Shires of Luscombe, you can check out the Shire soaps at Albert Valley Soaps