Horses at a Wiltshire brewery begin their annual break

Three dray horses who work 50 weeks a year delivering beer to Wiltshire pubs have begun their annual two-week break.

Prince, Monty and Max, employees of Devizes brewery Wadworth, were given a few pints of beer each before being released into a field near Devizes.

Hundreds gathered outside the Raven public house in Poulshot to watch the shire horses begin their holidays.

Vince Minty, a drayman from Wadworth, said: "They work hard all year and they deserve a break."

The brewery in Devizes has been employing shire horses for more than 100 years to deliver beers to local inns and hostelries.

And Prince, Monty and Max are three of the few remaining 'working' shires left in the brewing industry in the country.

'Self-catering'

Mr Minty said the giant horses knew when it was "holiday time".

"When they start walking along the road, they know and when they can see the field they knows what's happening," he said.

"And this year, we're doing it slightly differently.

"Usually the horses go self-catering, so they may lose a lot of weight just on grass, but we've still got a few shows to do when they return from holiday.

"So this year we've decided to feed them through the summer holidays."