AN EGLWYSWRW farm is celebrating after selling a second shire horse to the Household Cavalry in London.

Five-year-old Ed our will be following in the illustrious hoofprints of Dyfed Shire Horse Centre born and bred Celt, who was sold to the Cavalry back in 2008 and has gone on to become their senior drum horse at prestigious events all these years later.

The dream for the shire horse centre would be to see the two horses standing shoulder to shoulder at future Trooping the Colour ceremonies.

"Ed will shortly be joining Mercury, a shire we supplied to the Cavalry back in 2008 who has since participated in eight Trooping the Colours as well as other state events and the world famous musical ride,” said shire horse centre owner Huw Murphy.

“Mercury is believed to be the youngest shire to participate in Trooping the Colour in 2011 when only five years of age. Mercury is still known by his farm name of Celt when not on official duty and is known for his ability to understand commands in both Welsh and English.”

Ed was purchased on impulse at a Staffordshire auction in Sept 2015 when only a yearling, with the money raised from his sale being donated to the families of those who had lost their lives at the Bosley Mill fire in Cheshire in July 2015.

He displayed an excellent attitude towards learning and by the age of three was fully broken into both riding and also driving and by age four was trained to work horse-drawn farm machinery.

And he already has experience in dealing with events involving the Royal family. In July 2018, Ed was used to transport HRH The Duchess of Cornwall in a horse drawn cart during a Royal Visit to the farm at Eglwyswrw..

Dyfed Shires has a proud history of breeding and working this magnificent, but now rare breed of horse on their Welsh farm and also over the past decade supplying them to prestigious organisations for ceremonial roles.

In 2017, Celt's brother "JR" was flown to Oman to be trained in the same role for the Cavalry of the Sultanate of Oman.

“The shire is a rare breed of native British animal with numbers now less than the panda,” said Huw.

“At the end of WW2 Shire numbers exceeded one million but today they number only a few thousand.

“The work by Dyfed Shires and other breeders to preserve this magnificent animal is critical to prevent their extinction.

“Their use for prestigious ceremonial roles is vital in profiling the breed and its beauty while giving the public the opportunity to appreciate the vital role performed by Shires in years gone by, from powering the Industrial revolution to working the land to feed a nation under sea blockade during WW2.”

Dyfed Shires is a traditional Welsh farm which has been in the same family since 1849 with the current owner being the seventh generation.

In 1992 the farm diversified into agri-tourism and opened to the public in order that they could afford to keep their Shires when most other farmers had long dispensed with them in favour of mechanisation.

All farm visitors are given a history of the Shire and its role and their visit makes a direct contribution towards preserving the breed.