How horse-power and Amish antiques help ‘rewild’ dull London green spaces

Stamping their dinner plate-sized hooves and tossing their thick manes, shire horses William and Bessie aren’t typical visitors to King George’s Park in Wandsworth. But these noble creatures have a very important job to do.

William and Bessie belong to shire horse charity Operation Centaur, which has joined forces with Enable, a non-profit organisation that looks after green spaces in the south London borough, to transform corners of this urban park into wildflower meadows and woodland. It’s part of a project funded by the Mayor of London’s Rewild London Fund – and they’re trailblazers in a year where rewilding schemes such as this are about to blossom.

Mainly covered in scrubby grass, the soil here is unsuitable for sowing wildflower seeds – it needs to be carefully managed and stripped of its nutrients. This may seem counter-intuitive but flowers thrive in poorer soil – too rich and the grass takes too firm a hold.

And this is where these magnificent horses come in.

‘It’s an emotive way to get people involved’, says Enable’s parks operation manager Annabel Osborn. ‘All you’d get from a rewilding project with tractors and heavy machinery is complaints.’

So, in place of a grumbling mob, we find a gaggle of dog walkers and nursery school children keen to get up close to the enormous horses.

Pats and sugar lumps from the crowd are not advised, as the shires are hard at work. They trot back and forth in areas gated off for the project, dragging behind a sickle bar to mow the grass, which will then be cleared away by volunteers.

The scene looks more Victorian farm than 21st-century inner-London park. Indeed, some of the machinery Operation Centaur uses is antique but much of it comes from a surprising source – the Amish community of the US.

‘They’re terribly good at making lightweight, high-quality machinery,’ says head coachman Ed MacDowell. ‘When you buy anything from the Amish you get a little ticket with a biblical quote.’

Shire horses have an even older history than 19th-century farming, dating back to the days of Henry VIII when warhorses carried knights in full suits of armour. Today, Surrey-based Enable stays true to the horses’ regal roots, mainly operating in the Royal Parks including Richmond and Hampton Court, where the working animals pull coaches for leisure rides and 
are used in woodland management. 
Last September, shires from the centre hit headlines when they helped clear floral tributes left for the Queen from Hyde Park.

But isn’t it cruel to use animals like this in 2023? ‘They need to be worked,’ says MacDowell. ‘They’re built for it.’ Hard work is helping to keep the breed alive. Despite numbering over a million a century ago, the population of working horses in the UK has shrunk dramatically and there are now just 2,000 worldwide. Now Operation Centaur breeds its own and also rescues horses, including William.

For green projects, using horses is a sustainable, low-carbon option. Crucially, for the work here in King George’s Park, they also have a low impact on the soil.

‘We suffer a lot with soil compaction due to heavy footfall, as well as using heavy machinery to manage the park. Horses are much lighter, and allow for more soil movement, protecting the things that are trying to grow,’ says Mick Green, parks biodiversity officer at Enable.

There have been setbacks. If there’s a scorching hot summer the grass barely grows and the pile of cuttings to be cleared is small. But that doesn’t mean the horses’ trip here is wasted, says Green.

‘This is very much an ongoing project – the horses will be back again this year, and many times after that. The park will look very different in a couple years – for the better.’

For more, see enablelc.org and wildlondon.org.uk

Take a walk on the wild side this year

Scotland

Beavers roam free at Bamff, a 1,300-acre eco-estate in Perthshire, and guests can explore the wetlands and its wildlife from cabins and yurts. Prices vary, bamff.co.uk

Romania

Track European bison on an epic hiking trail across the mountains of Southern Carpathia, where once-extinct herds have been successfully reintroduced. From £739, muchbetteradventures.com

Costa Rica

Join a 12-day trek through the Costa Rican rainforests to see incredible efforts being made to conserve mangrove forests and protect the rare species that live there. From £3,598, reefandrainforest.co.uk

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