Equioils is a small family business founded in 2021 and is run from Preston, Lancashire by myself, Jill Mortimer-Tarbatt. However, a four generation Horsemanship runs in my family with a passion for horses coming from my father, Richard Mortimer. Richard in his younger years was one of the County’s leading Shire Horse Breeders working from our family stud, Earnshaw Shire Stud (Est 1921), in more recent years he was a well respected Judge of the breed. From an early age I was my Dad’s shadow, never shying away from the Shires.
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Family History
In 1921 my Great Grandmother (Margaret Mortimer) started Earnshaw Shire Stud, having lost her husband shortly after buying Earnshaw Bridge Farm, my Great Grandma continued to run the farm with the help of my Grandad (Thomas Mortimer) and Great Uncle (Richard Mortimer). The farm was primarily dairy and arable, milking over 40 dairy cows, and like many farms in those days had pigs and hens. The Farm additionally had three working Shire Horse’s.
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My Great Grandma began to breed from one of the Shire mares, with the first gelding she sold going on to win the London show in the 1930’s with his new owner George Marsh, from in Knowsley in Liverpool.
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Grandad (Thomas Mortimer) became more involved in breeding and showing the Shires, with his favourite broodmare Earnshaw Jewel who had three foals by the stallion Bridgebank Fascinator, with my Grandad saying he was the best stallion to visit Earnshaw Bridge Farm- one of his sayings was “you can breed a badden from a gooden so you won’t have any chance with a badden”. The second of these foals was first shown by a young (8yr old) Richard Mortimer at the Royal Lancashire show, winning this class, before going on to win everywhere else that season. This foal was sold and stayed as a stallion under the ownership of Preston Stud, gaining the name Preston Prestonian.
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Towards the end of the 60’s most Shires had gone, with the ones that remained becoming popular to exhibit at Shows. At that point Grandad said ‘you’ll have to do it now Lad’, and for Dads 21st Birthday present his parents made him a life time member of the Shire Horse Society.
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As a young man Dad showed a Gelding named Baston Phillip, winning first place at the Royal Lancashire Show, in second place was Bellasize Majestic shown by the great Reggie Nunn. Beating Reggie Nunn was one of Dads proudest achievements, as he had watch and admired Reggie Nunn as a young Lad.
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Dad went onto do probationary judging before joining the Shire Horse Judging Panel under three great Shire men. He served on the Shire Horse Council for 27 years and was a member of the stallion editing committee for 10 years. Overall he showed for 56 years and Panel Judged for 49 years. In 1995 Dad was selected by the council to Judge the Shires at HOYS.
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Dad and Mum got married in 1968 but the wedding had to be put back a week because Dad was asked to judge the Shire at Poynton Agricultural Show in Cheshire, this was his first judging appointment. But as the saying goes behind every great man there is an even better woman, and Steph was just that, going on to keep everybody fed and watered at the many shows they went to. Royston Majestic (Gem) went to Dad and Mum’s wedding.
Dad’s lucky break was when John and Jinny Ollerton were retiring from their farm in Lathom, Lancashire. Dad had the chance to purchase John’s Mare Lathom Princess and her daughters Primrose and Future Queen, both sired by Quixhill Gay Lad, this is when the winning streak began. Lathom Primrose won well over 160 championships and qualified for HOYS 10 times. Her achievements included female Junior Champion at the National Shire Show in 1978, won the Mare and Foals in a class of 19 at Great Yorkshire Show and then stood 2nd at HOYS. At the young age of 7 years old, Dad entered me and Primrose in the young handlers at Newark and Nottinghamshire County Show in a strong class and against much older young handlers I was placed first, from this point I was hooked. There will never be another mare like Lathom Primrose. One of Primrose foals Earnshaw Jewel, grew into a big mare and went on to qualify for and was placed 3rd at HOYs even though she had two black legs instead of the preferred four white.
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Earnshaw Jewel went on to produce a colt foal by Whittlesey Winston, Earnshaw Ideal. The colt went on to win the Royal England at 2yrs old and at 4yrs old went on to claim champion stallion at the National Shire Horse show at Peterborough. In 1997 he stood 5th at HOYS. He was sold to Colorado Springs in America as a Stallion.
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After many years at the side of Dad and Bert Sutton preparing the shires for showing I soon learnt how to produce horses for the show ring. I wasn’t given much option! From the late 70’s Bert Sutton was Dads right hand man, Bert as a young man had worked at Preston Stud Traveling Stallions throughout the service season from farm to farm for his Uncle Dick Sutton. The extensive knowledge, skills and experience of these Shire Stallion men has been unforgivingly lost with them since the invention of the tractor.
Just before Grandad died he had bought land at Ulnes Walton, Leyland Lancashire, with his plan being to build a new Farm called Earnshaw Shire Farm. Sadly he never saw his dream come true however, Dad and Mum took over his plans and the family moved to Earnshaw Shire Farm in 1982.
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The family have continued the family tradition with horses with my brother Philip Mortimer having built up a very successful livery yard business at Earnshaw Shire Farm.
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Why was Equioils created?
Following in our family footsteps, my daughter Elizabeth got the bug for showing horses and began showing Traditional Coloureds. At this point, with advice from my Dad and our previous experience with the Shires, I knew that other products available on the market wouldn’t achieve the results I needed. From here, I created a bespoke product to keep the feather and skin in great condition and this was the start of the Equioils journey.
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My Dad had been using his own secret formula which had been handed down through the family for generations with proven results and I realised that the family formula was like nothing else available on the market.
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I initially developed the leg conditioning oil for use on our own pony however the results were quickly noticed by friends. It was based on feedback from other people that stated that this type of product was needed for ponies & horses with feather and therefore, Equioils was created.
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The aim of Equioils is to help others maintain healthy feather on their horses & ponies and this certainly seems to be working both for showing and non-competitive customers. It’s great to see that some of our customers achieved fabulous results in the Native/Cob/Traditional Pony of the Year and Mountain and Moorland Pony of the Year at HOYs 2021 and 2022.
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What the Pro’s are saying
“I use both products from the Equioils range and I can honestly say the results have been fantastic. The products follows a three step approach to achieving the best skin and hair condition in feathered equines. Not only does the oil promote silky yet strong feather but also smells amazing. I have tried many leg oil products over the years and it does exactly what it says on the tin. The product is also competitively priced allowing for inclusion in my weekly maintenance practice. If you’re looking for a routine maintenance product for your hairy cobs, this is for you”.
Sue-Helen Shuttleworth
“I trialed the new Mallenders and Sallenders Salve from Equioils and was amazed by the results. After trying everything in the medicine cabinet to help nothing worked, this natural product made such a huge difference to my horses”.
David Bennett
