118 THE HORSE 



The bane of the cart-horse a few years ago was its 

 tendency to put out ring-bones and side-bones, and also 

 spavins ; but there has been an extraordinary change for the 

 better since the estabHshment of the great Shows and the 

 enroUing of dams and sires in the respective Stud Books. 

 The rigid rules, and careful administration of them, have 

 gone far towards eliminating these serious ailments, and 

 have certainly succeeded in establishing a much sounder race 

 of horses in every breed ; and the aims of the Shire Horse 

 Society in 1877 " to improve the old English breed of 

 cart-horses " have certainly been fulfilled with regard to 

 their especial proteges. 



The Shike Horse. 



A Shire horse must be massive, with strength in the back 

 and thighs, and deep in the ribs, with plenty of long, 

 straight, silky hair on the legs, well covering the fetlocks, 

 while a rosette of hair at the knee is much prized. The 

 feet themselves should be big and solid, with sloping pasterns, 

 and good razor-shaped bone. The body should be squarely 

 built, with muscular arms and thighs ; and there should be 

 force as well as fire in the movements. A sluggish goer 

 hanging back from his bridle is one to be avoided for work 

 or for showing. Above all he must walk well, with plenty 

 of liberty, and quite straight in his action, not rolling in his 

 gait or turning out his hocks. In height he should be 

 about 17 hands ; and in colour dark grey, brown, bay, 

 black, and chestnut-black. The Shire Horse is no doubt 

 the descendant of the old English Great Horse used by the 

 knights when heavy armour was worn ; and so heavy was 

 the knight and his accoutrements that the warrior seems 

 only to have mounted his war-horse when actually required 

 for the tournament or the battle-field. At other times the 

 knight was mounted on a palfrey, whilst a squire led the 

 Great Horse carrying the armour ; and the necessity 

 for this is easily understood when it is considered that 

 the knight and his armour together weighed about 

 32 stone ! 



