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By VALERIE WIGGLESWORTH / The Dallas Morning News
vwigglesworth@dallasnews.com
PRINCETON – A horse is a horse, of course.
Unless it's a Clydesdale named Remington vying for the Guinness World Record as the tallest living horse.
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The record is currently held by Radar, a Belgian draft horse in Mount Pleasant, Texas. He stands 19 hands and 3 ½ inches – that's 6 feet 7 ½ inches to the withers (from hoof to top of the shoulder).
Remington's owner, Cheryl Davis of Princeton, believes he can beat that height, though she's never gotten him to hold still long enough to be measured. She thinks he measures more than 20 hands, or 6 feet 8 inches.
Rachel Alexandra, the winner of last month's Preakness, stands at 16.2 hands and is considered a big horse.
NATHAN HUNSINGER/DMN
Cheryl Davis, guides her horse Remington out to feed at her home in Princeton on June 1, 2009.
View larger More photos Photo store There are probably taller horses than Remington out there, but most owners don't bother with a title because of all the paperwork and requirements that Guinness demands, Davis says. "If it's not recognized, it's not official," said Bunny Morrissey, Remington's trainer.
Remington will be measured Friday with his shoes on and again Saturday with no shoes at Frisco's Lake Country Animal Hospital. Photos, videos and witness statements will be sent off to Guinness for consideration. And if he wins, the title lasts only until someone submits the paperwork to beat it.
"If it lasts 10 minutes or 10 days, it will just be something happy to show," said Davis, who took an early retirement from Texas Instruments and is now job hunting. "He draws a crowd wherever he goes."
Also Online
Link: Remington's blog
Davis and Morrissey alternate between describing Remington as a feisty teenager and a big, playful dog. He also has plenty of nicknames: Conan the Destroyer, the Stomach on Stilts, the Woolly Mammoth. Often he's just Remi.
Owning the big lug requires some adjustments. Everything has to be custom-made, from his halters to the steel-reinforced trailer that hauls him around.
Derek Allsop, a third-generation farrier in Celeste, said Remington is his largest customer by far with a size 10 shoe, the biggest premade. The shoe must be heated up in a forge the old-fashioned way because of its size so that it can be specially shaped.
About six months ago, Morrissey stopped at a truck weigh station. She weighed the trailer empty and then with Remington in it. He tipped the scales at 2,900 pounds and is probably more than 3,000 by now, she said.
When he walks in the yard after a hard rain, he leaves craters in the lawn.
His head bumps the 9 ½-foot ceiling on the barn, and his back scrapes the top of the trailer door. He responds when the women yell, "Duck," they said.
Raising Remington has been an adventure, the owner and trainer said. The two women recently started a blog to share his latest antics:
Like the time he put his front feet onto the air conditioning unit and knocked it off the house. Or the time he stuck his nose through the horse stall gate and threw it across the yard. Then there was the time he pulled a small tree out of the ground to play with. And when he scratched his neck on a 4x4 post in the barn and splintered it.
"If you build it, he'll break it, and if he can't break it, he'll eat it," said Morrissey.
Eating is practically a full-time job for Remington, who requires two square bales of hay a day, nine quarts of grains twice a day and 40 gallons of water. He also enjoys a healthy supply of peppermint treats.
Davis bought Remington when he was a year old and a mere 17 hands tall to work with an English shire for the Belle Starre Carriages, a private-for-hire business that Morrissey operates. Remington now pulls a carriage carrying eight people by himself.
At that first meeting 11 years ago, Remington stepped on her foot. Davis spent three months in an orthopedic boot but said it was love at first sight.
"I had a gut feeling he was something special, and he turned out to be a big something special," Davis said.
vwigglesworth@dallasnews.com
PRINCETON – A horse is a horse, of course.
Unless it's a Clydesdale named Remington vying for the Guinness World Record as the tallest living horse.
Video
Remington goes for a record
06/01/09
More general news video
View larger E-mail Clip More Video News Videos
Princeton Clydesdale named Remington vies for tallest horse record
Menu items and services available to suites in Cowboys Stadium
Dallas Stars introduce Joe Nieuwendyk as new general manager
The record is currently held by Radar, a Belgian draft horse in Mount Pleasant, Texas. He stands 19 hands and 3 ½ inches – that's 6 feet 7 ½ inches to the withers (from hoof to top of the shoulder).
Remington's owner, Cheryl Davis of Princeton, believes he can beat that height, though she's never gotten him to hold still long enough to be measured. She thinks he measures more than 20 hands, or 6 feet 8 inches.
Rachel Alexandra, the winner of last month's Preakness, stands at 16.2 hands and is considered a big horse.
NATHAN HUNSINGER/DMN
Cheryl Davis, guides her horse Remington out to feed at her home in Princeton on June 1, 2009.
View larger More photos Photo store There are probably taller horses than Remington out there, but most owners don't bother with a title because of all the paperwork and requirements that Guinness demands, Davis says. "If it's not recognized, it's not official," said Bunny Morrissey, Remington's trainer.
Remington will be measured Friday with his shoes on and again Saturday with no shoes at Frisco's Lake Country Animal Hospital. Photos, videos and witness statements will be sent off to Guinness for consideration. And if he wins, the title lasts only until someone submits the paperwork to beat it.
"If it lasts 10 minutes or 10 days, it will just be something happy to show," said Davis, who took an early retirement from Texas Instruments and is now job hunting. "He draws a crowd wherever he goes."
Also Online
Link: Remington's blog
Davis and Morrissey alternate between describing Remington as a feisty teenager and a big, playful dog. He also has plenty of nicknames: Conan the Destroyer, the Stomach on Stilts, the Woolly Mammoth. Often he's just Remi.
Owning the big lug requires some adjustments. Everything has to be custom-made, from his halters to the steel-reinforced trailer that hauls him around.
Derek Allsop, a third-generation farrier in Celeste, said Remington is his largest customer by far with a size 10 shoe, the biggest premade. The shoe must be heated up in a forge the old-fashioned way because of its size so that it can be specially shaped.
About six months ago, Morrissey stopped at a truck weigh station. She weighed the trailer empty and then with Remington in it. He tipped the scales at 2,900 pounds and is probably more than 3,000 by now, she said.
When he walks in the yard after a hard rain, he leaves craters in the lawn.
His head bumps the 9 ½-foot ceiling on the barn, and his back scrapes the top of the trailer door. He responds when the women yell, "Duck," they said.
Raising Remington has been an adventure, the owner and trainer said. The two women recently started a blog to share his latest antics:
Like the time he put his front feet onto the air conditioning unit and knocked it off the house. Or the time he stuck his nose through the horse stall gate and threw it across the yard. Then there was the time he pulled a small tree out of the ground to play with. And when he scratched his neck on a 4x4 post in the barn and splintered it.
"If you build it, he'll break it, and if he can't break it, he'll eat it," said Morrissey.
Eating is practically a full-time job for Remington, who requires two square bales of hay a day, nine quarts of grains twice a day and 40 gallons of water. He also enjoys a healthy supply of peppermint treats.
Davis bought Remington when he was a year old and a mere 17 hands tall to work with an English shire for the Belle Starre Carriages, a private-for-hire business that Morrissey operates. Remington now pulls a carriage carrying eight people by himself.
At that first meeting 11 years ago, Remington stepped on her foot. Davis spent three months in an orthopedic boot but said it was love at first sight.
"I had a gut feeling he was something special, and he turned out to be a big something special," Davis said.
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