Farm attraction confirms death of popular horse

A popular farm attraction has announced the sudden death of a horse that was much-loved by visitors.

Three-year-old stallion Herkules appeared in episodes of Channel Five's On The Farm format filmed at Cannon Hall Farm, near Barnsley.

Farmer Rob Nicholson confirmed that the Shire horse had died in a video in which he said his family's "hearts are filled with sadness".

Giant Herkules was 18 hands (72 inches) tall and regularly appeared on Cannon Hall's social media accounts.

Before his death he had sired a number of foals who are due to be born next year.

Mr Nicholson said: "The news is difficult to take in at the moment. He'd been having a really lovely spring and was in the prime of his life.

"I never thought we'd have an animal like him here on our farm."

The horse was unable to recover from the stomach condition colic despite being operated on by vets.

Mr Nicholson added: "We've got foals to look forward to from Herkules next year. Thankfully, we took him to the semen collection centre and this was just by chance.

"So we've got his breeding potential safeguarded but to see him trotting down the yard at spring time and to think that won't happen again is really upsetting."

The Nicholson family bought the farm in the 1950s when the Cannon Hall estate was broken up, and later developed the visitor attraction. The hall itself is now a museum.

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