TEE DRAFT BREEDS OF HORSES 35 



horse in Great Britain. It is reported of Caesar, that 

 when he invaded Great Britain, 55 B.C., he was impressed 

 with the excellence of the horses that were attached to 

 the war chariots of the Britons. The breed attained its 

 greatest development in the lowlands of England, in 

 Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire especially. Other near- 

 by counties contributed more or less to the development 

 of the breed. In early tunes, heavy active horses were in 

 greatest demand for war purposes, and this led to the 

 importation of heavy horses from Flanders and Normandy. 

 Large importations of the heavy Black horses of Flan- 

 ders were made as early as the eleventh century, and in 

 succeeding years during the reigns of King John, Edward 

 II and Henry VIII. One of the early improvers of the 

 Shire was Robert Bakewell, who introduced blood of 

 imported Holland mares in his breeding efforts. The 

 development of the breed received much impetus in 1878, 

 when the English Cart Horse Society was formed. The 

 name of the society was due to the fact that the Shire 

 was known primarily as a. cart horse. 



The history of the Shire shows a slow but persistent 

 development of an improved type through a great space 

 of time. The improvement of action and quality have 

 received most attention from the breeders, and the results, 

 as shown in a modern Shire, have been marked. 



31. History in America. The progress of the Shire in 

 America has been substantial but yet not so rapid as 

 might be expected, considering the decided merits of 

 the breed. This, in a measure, has resulted from the 

 dislike of the American trade for hairy-legged horses 

 deficient in quality. It seems that hairy legs are more or 

 less characteristic of all heavy breeds of horses reared 

 in low countries, and they have been a breed character- 



