134 THE HORSE AND ITS RELATIVES 



in the time of Paul Potter, who painted a portrait 

 of a grey dappled stallion of the breed in 1652, 

 the British and Continental representatives of 

 the breed were practically identical. The frequent 

 presence of black and grey at this period is 

 indicative of Arab or Barb blood. 



The name shire horse seems to have been in 

 use by about the end of the eighteenth century, for 

 we find Arthur Young, in the description of a tour 

 through England and Scotland, referring to two 

 breeds of cart-horse as deserving of attention, 

 namely the large old English black horse, " the 

 produce principally of the shire counties in the 

 heart of England, and the sorrel-coloured Suffolk 

 punch, for which the sandy tract of country near 

 Woodbridgre is famous." 



During the last century, writes Sir Walter 

 Gilbey, " the shire horse has played no mean part 

 in building up size and massiveness in all the other 

 draught-breeds in the kingdom. That he has 

 undergone great changes is certain ; but the 

 characteristics of the breed — size, strength, substance, 

 courage, and docility — have been perpetuated and 

 developed by careful selection till we have now in 

 our shire horse the ideal beast of draught." 



All the best characteristics of the breed were 

 displayed by " Blythwood Conqueror," a famous 

 stallion foaled in 1893, whose colour was bay, with 

 a blaze on the forehead and all four feet white. 



