David Mouland and his beautiful belgian drafts

I had the pleasure of meeting David Mouland at the Devon County Show a couple of years ago and have caught up at Bath & West Show and other shows every year since. He's a true horseman and his beautiful Belgian Drafts are absolutely incredible. when David agreed to booking a photoshoot I was so excited to show the other side to these gentle giants.

I thought I would start this blog by showing David doing what him and his team of incredible Belgian Drafts doing what they do best! These were taken at the Bath & West Show earlier this year after an incredible show, we caught up after this at the Thatchers Bar and after him admiring my work at stands the last couple of years, I managed to convince him to set a date to get in front of the camera himself.

On the 12th June, I made my way to Fordingbridge in Hampshire for a beautiful morning photo shoot with David, the sun shone and the morning flew by. Like many of my clients, David is not one for being in front of the camera but knew how precious the results would be.

Knowing this, we kept things super relaxed and mostly about the horses. I actually photographed just a handful of David's horses on this occasion, he has another team of Belgian Drafts in America too and flies over several times each year to compete them there too!

David started driving heavy horses from a young age alongside his Dad, who competed in ploughing competitions with shires and Clydesdales. Eventually, David decided to buy his own horses, starting with shires x clydesdales before moving on to the Belgian drafts after falling in love with them in Canada.

In Davids words the Belgians are like Ferraris compared to Clydes and Shires, although they are gentle giants they’ve got so much power and if you aren’t careful you can get hurt whereas with the Clydes you could lead six in from the field on a quad bike – you wouldn’t do that with one Belgian; you have to respect them.

The sheer size of these incredible animals is breathtaking. Belgians range from a whopping 19 hands to over 20 hands and the power behind them, is phenominal. You truly don't realise how big they are until you stand next to them! 

In all honesty, the photo's don't do the size of these massive majestic horses justice. 

Their shoes alone cost £200 per set and are completely handmade.

Make sure you head to the heavy horses stables at the Bath & West Show to say hello and get up close with Davids big friendly giants. He's not far from my stand so I'm more than happy to point you in the right direction and David is an incredible man to talk to with so much knowledge for the breed.

They really are the most beautiful animals and seeing them work is breathtaking, David likes to drive them in teams of 6 when he can. It gives him the biggest challenge but the most fun too! All it takes is for one to misbehave and it can all go wrong but when it's going right it's the best feeling ever!