JAZZ AND JOY | SHIRES | HERMANN, MO

Jazz and Joy are black Shires bred by Jenson Shires in Nebraska and trained with Merrill McLaughlin at Hermann Farm Museum.

Unlike many of the horses we profile, Jazz and Joy are part of an effort to preserve the endangered Shire breed. Hermann Farm Museum seeks to connect visitors to Midwestern rural traditions, including using horses for work. Visitors love to see Jazz and Joy at work, as well as their stablemates — two Missouri mules named Pat and Jane, and a horse named Barbara who “thinks she’s a Shire.”

Jazz (sometimes known as “Jazz the Spazz”) is Joy’s dam. Jazz is a hyper mare and “always on the go,” the very definition of a workhorse. Their handlers tell us Joy is a “sweet and gentle baby.”

Jazz is usually driven, but trainer Merrill McLaughlin sometimes rides the horses at Hermann Farm as part of their training.

“Hermann Farm Museum has a mission to save the endangered Shire breed,” the girls’ handlers said. “Our favorite thing is showing off the horses to all the visitors who come to the history farm each year.

“For all of us at the farm the favorite memory was when the horses arrived, Jazz being one of the first along with Gorgeous. When they first arrived the wild mustard was growing in the field and the black horses running through that scene was breathtaking.”