The Irish draught horse is an icon in the Irish cultural landscape. Through good times and bad it was the work horse which pulled the farmer’ plough, took the family to church, hunted, was a commercial draft animal and pulled field artillery. Yet in 1950 over 24,000 were exported for slaughter. Today the Irish Draught is used for hunting, for pleasure and competition, much valued by a new generation of owners. But historically it was so much part of the landscape it blended into the background and was never the subject of a comprehensive book. Here, the story of the ‘horse of the people’ is told before facts and details vanish forever. Contributors trace its evolution as a working horse through to its almost overnight disappearance with 1960s mechanisation. Illustrated with wonderful images, we invite you to take a journey along Ireland’s cultural road with Ireland’s native working horse.