But it has also raised the prospect of a revival of real horse power as a rival to the tractor.

So far, the signs are small. Sam Smith's brewery, in Tadcaster, has gone back to horse-drawn drays for local deliveries - putting a bit of extra spice into the competitions where it comes up against the Lancashire team representing Thwaites of Blackburn.

And some enthusiasts are subsidising their enthusiasm for the horses by putting them to work in situations where they are particularly useful, like logging in tight woodland.

Stuart Green, an agricultural engineer, and his wife, Deborah, make a point of working the heavy horses they keep on 10 acres at Sawley, near Pateley Bridge. They don't normally bother with shows, but recently lost a mare and were looking for an outing for the gelding they replaced her with.

That was two-year-old, Loxley Challenger, who will not be ready for heavy work like ploughing, mowing and logging, for another couple of years.

He came last at the Great Yorkshire yesterday, but they are hoping to do better with him in future, when they have trained him for driving events which is their specialty.

The first of the turn-outs - single horses pulling two-wheeled or four-wheeled vehicles - was won by Hugh Ramsay of Newton Stewart, Scotland, with a Clydesdale.

In the Shires and Clydesdales in hand classes the top Clydesdale was a seven-year-old mare, Hawkshill Katie, entered by Johnny Adamson of Stirling. The best of the Shires was Acle Delma, from the multi-award-winning stables of Paul and Walter Bedford at Escrick, near York, who was also best mare at the Shire Championships in Peterborough last September.

The Bedford brothers also took the reserve place in the Clydesdales section.