THEY have plied their trade on Britain’s waterways for more than 200 years – and this picture shows them hard at work in a long bygone era.

And they will be ‘working’ again next Monday, albeit in much more pleasant surroundings.

Canal boat horses have helped keep the country’s industry working along the nation’s waterways since the Bridgewater Canal opened 250 years ago.

Horses would be harnessed up to long narrowboats and barges to transport tonnes of coal, steel and cloth along the canals and rivers, often working for up to 16 hours a day.

Now their role is more relaxed and they often find themselves in the tourist spotlight.

That will certainly be the case next week for boat horse Bonnie, her foal Rosebud and her brother Bilbo.

They are all stars of the Horseboating Society who will be appearing at the Standedge Visitor Centre above Marsden on May 2, from 12 noon to 3pm.

It is part of the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, which featured horses for much of its history.

Sue Day from the society, said: “We will be following the Bank Holiday tradition of parading a working horse at Standedge.

“After a long Pennine winter, the horse will be in its sleek summer coat and visitors will be able to see how a horse was harnessed and worked as a packhorse, a wagon horse or a boat horse.

“Some of them were used to pull the boats along, others to take the loads over the Pennine hills as the boat was legged through the Standedge Tunnel.

“In days gone by the horses had a hard life and were worked day after day, pulling very heavy loads.

“It must have been ghastly for them in the icy winters that they had in the Pennines.

“I look after the horses and they have an easier life now. We use types like Cobs and Vanners, which are lighter horses than the big Shires or Clydesdales”.