Jonathan Waterer Heavy Horses

Jonathan Waterer was born on 10th November, 1959 and grew up on his parents' farm south of Reading, Berkshire, England. He was riding ponies from the age of four years and soon his passion for horses evolved. He very quickly developed his driving skills by first using a donkey and governess cart before progressing to using a cob for draught purposes on the farm.
By his early teens, Jonathan had acquired an extensive collection of period agricultural memorabilia as well as becoming proficient at driving heavy horses. During this time, Jonathan progressed through all phases of riding and competed in showjumping and horse trials.

Jonathan Waterer Heavy Horses

After attending Berkshire College of Agriculture, he travelled to Alberta, Canada. He was inspired to go there having read 'Farmers Glory' by A G Street. He worked on a ranch in the foothills of the Rockies for four years. Here, he learned all the skills of a cowboy meanwhile learning to train draught horses for work. His experience included driving at Calgary stampede, driving teams of four and six horses and was also involved with putting together a team of 27 mules on a John Deere combine as a demonstration. He travelled into Washington State, USA working with like minded horse people, preparing horses and competing in various state fairs and Toronto Royal Fair.

In 1982 Jonathan returned to England and bought a small farm on the edge of Exmoor National Park in Devon. He farmed this ground with his shire horses and gradually built up a reputation for training both horses and people. He provided wagon rides with a pair of horses across the moor and from 1988 his wife Fiona became involved with the horse work. They were soon training up to 20 horses a year for other people as well as cutting corn with a binder, making hay and feeding all their stock by horse power.

Jonathan was competing nationally with a team of six shires by this time going annually to the national Shire Horse Show at Peterborough as well as many others all over England. He was selected to drive three times to drive in European and English teams for endurance trials in France. He had invested in a pretty wedding carriage and each year the clientele for weddings was increasing. Jonathan was involved with supplying horse and props for his first film hire - 'Return of the Native' starring Catherine Zeta Jones.

In 1996, Jonathan moved to Higher Biddacott Farm, Chittlehampton, Devon which has a beautiful 12th Century farmhouse and nearly 100 acres of stunning farmland. The original farmyard and house lend themselves perfectly for film locations. He has built up the business of teaching people to drive light and heavy horses, alongside continuing to train all types of horses for riding and driving. Besides providing wedding carriages, Jonathan also has a horse drawn hearse which is regularly used for funerals.
Following 'Return of the Native', Frankfurter Films from Germany approached Jonathan for help in supplying horses, vehicles, dogs, cattle, sheep and poultry for their productions of several Rosamund Pilcher books.

In 2002 Jonathan was approached by Lion Television to help with the production of 'Machines that time forgot' directed by Michael Barnes. The programme was split into four programmes, the last of which was entitled 'Chariots'. This programme was investigating how the 7th Century Assyrians made chariots and used them. The first part of the programme was filmed in the British Museum studying the Assyrian Reliefs. Jonathan subsequently travelled to the Turkish border with Syria. His job was to train seven Turkistan horses to pull the chariots using neck forks (not collars). This took a lot of doing but eventually the horses drove brilliantly. Jonathan did all the tests with the chariots including swimming the Euphrates (in November!) leading the horses behind the coracles with chariots on board. The programme was successful in showing how the chariots were built and the workings of the neck yokes.

Jonathan supplied horses for 'Vanity Fair', 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'Ladies in Lavender' directed by Charles Dance in 2003. This was followed by appearances in 'Pride and Prejudice' in 2004. In 2005, Jonathan put a team of four ponies abreast on a
reconstructed Roman chariot for a Channel 4 programme entitled 'Time Team'. The challenge was to build the chariot complete with neck forks as close as possible to the originals. A mini hippodrome was built at Colchester. Two of the ponies only had a bit in their mouths four and five times respectively. He successfully drove the team of four abreast ponies at speeds of up to 28 mph.

Jonathan regularly gives exhibitions at agricultural shows and suchlike driving all sorts of combinations of different size teams of horses. Aged 20, he drove a team of 27 mules on a combine harvester in the hills of Washington State. This was a reconstruction of the way in which grain was harvested using large combines in the 1920s and 30s. Jonathan's life now revolves around film work, training people and horses to ride and drive and weddings and funerals with the horses. He also farms and helps his wife run the farmhouse bed and breakfast.

Jonathan has a huge capacity for work. He is particularly interested in new challenges. He has an excellent knowledge of horses and carriages for any period of film. He is meticulous in the accuracy of the period required. He has a vast prop collection which he started collecting as a young boy. He is proud of the fact that he has always been able to find any horse, vehicle, other livestock or props required for filming. He has never let anybody down with supply of articles or time keeping. He is passionate about his work.

See also:

www.heavy-horses.net

Contributed by: Susan Jennings