Equestrian Sales In Todmorden, West Yorkshire

We, Gary and Sharon with our three children moved to Lower Shaw Farm over seven years ago. The forty-acre farm located on the border of West Yorkshire with Lancashire was previously a beef cattle farm.

Sharon has been involved with horses for 30 years and is very experienced in all forms of equestrian management and activities.

We started off in 2002 with just two of our own horses. These two horses are still going strong and have benefited from the natural environment in which they now live.

To keep the grass down and to manage the land we decided to buy a few young horses, ‘growers’ as we used to call them. During their time with us we gained their confidence, halter broke them, got them use to traffic and most importantly people and children. We allowed them to grow naturally and gave them the best start in life we could.

Due to the exposed location of the farm and mixed grazing that existed we decided to specialise in traditional hardy cobs and native breed ponies that could live out all year round. These heavier horses are great for riding, driving and even pulling ploughs in the Isle of Man. 

Some of the youngsters we bought had been mistreated and landed at the farm in a dreadful state. But eventually we managed to give them back their confidence, trust and love of humans.

The following season we sold those horses and started all over again with a new batch. We now have over thirty youngsters, breeding mares and ‘Mack’ the coloured stallion.

We like to sell the horses between the ages of two and three years old when we feel they are ready for breaking, but some we keep longer. The coloured foals we breed are sometimes sold at weaning but again most stay with us for a few years. By keeping the animals the length of time we do enables us to study their development so when people come to purchase them from us we know their history, personality and temperament.

We have expanded the farm to 70 acres and can also offer full livery.

We believe that horses should be able to live in a natural environment and behave like horses should. We try to keep everything natural and the grass is purposely kept as a mixture of rough and lush pasture. Fences are kept to a minimum and the horses drink from the fresh water streams that run through the land. If we have to buy hard feed or medicine, again we try to keep it as natural as possible.

Good temperament is what we strive to achieve with the horses whilst they are in our care. We believe that if a young horse is calm then it is safe, and a safe confident horse can be taught anything at all by the right owner as the bond is made between them.

We have kept in touch with the majority of people who have purchased horses from us in the past. People all over the country as far as Suffolk and even the Isle of Man buy the horses. It gives us great pleasure when we receive photos of children at shows riding the once young and sometimes mistreated horses that came to us a few years before.

All of our horses and the farm can be viewed by appointment without an obligation to buy.

If you can spare the time please look at some of the before and after photos in the gallery.