ABOUT 50 horses from Shires to Shetlands will be put to work at a museum’s annual equine extravaganza.

The Horses At Work event opens at Beamish Museum on Friday with visitors able to see the magnificent animals in action and come face-to-face with pit ponies and pack horses.

For the first time, the annual event has been extended to three days and features Clydesdales, Percherons, Gelderlanders and Friesians alongside the historic vehicles they would have hauled.

A First World War encampment will be set up in The Pit Village, featuring the 16th Lancers Cavalry Unit, alongside the 29th Field Kitchen serving sample food.

There will be horses at work in the farm fields, a farrier demonstration in the stables, free rides in horse-drawn passenger vehicles, while visitors can also see the wooden waggonway and horse-powered gin, used to bring men and coal out of the mines.

Chris Thompson, horse operations team leader at the County Durham museum, said: “This event is an amazing opportunity for us to show how important the use of horses was throughout the 1800s and 1900s.

“Now in its third year and extended to three days, Horses at Work will be bigger and better than ever before.”

For more information on Horses at Work, visit beamish.org.uk.