VARIETIES OF THE HORSE 



HEAVY HORSES 



The Shire Horse. — The subject of the present article is entitled to be 

 accepted as the giant of the equine world, and possibly no variety of 

 English horse impresses foreign visitors to an agricultural show more than 

 do the majestic animals which within the last few years have come to be 

 included in the category of the Shire horse. Previously to a decision being 

 arrived at amongst breeders to abandon such designations as Cart-horse 

 and Agricultural horse, some confusion naturally existed in the minds of 

 inexperienced persons who frequented horse shows as to the classification 

 of our heavy breeds, and consequently the fusion of all heavy English 

 horses — of accredited pedigree — save Suffolks, into one division has been 

 welcomed by the public, and no doubt the animals themselves have been 

 benefited by it. 



Accepting, therefore, the Shire horse as the modern representative of the 

 English draught horse, the searcher after earlier records of his existence will 

 at once discover that the variety possesses the distinction of being a very 

 ancient one indeed. Sir Walter Gilbey, in his most interesting work on 

 the old English War-horse, maintains, and with a very considerable amount 

 of success, that the Shire is a direct descendant of that celebrated animal 

 of which the ancient Britons were so proud, and their Eoman conquerors 

 were so extremely covetous. Still, whether Sir Walter Gilbey is fully 

 justified in his deductions or not — and he writes with authority, since 

 no one man has done more for the advancement of the Shire horse than 

 lie — the fact remains that there was an ancient breed of horses in Great 

 Britain at the time of the Roman invasion, and that the animals were 

 then considered remarkable for their size and power, though of course 

 vastly inferior in stature to the Shire horse of the present day. There 

 is no doubt at all, as history shows, that the old strain of horses was 

 highly prized by successive kings of England who flourished since the 

 Conquest, this fact being clearly proved by the references that have 

 already been made to the good deeds, from a horse-breeder's point of 

 view, of the different English monarchs. 



It is equally certain, also, that in the earlier stages of their respective 

 efforts to improve their race of horses, the sovereigns of England were more 

 influenced by a desire to produce a superior type of War-horse than to assist 

 mere peaceable agriculturists in preparing their land for cultivation. As a 

 matter of fact, all the necessary farm-work, which in those days must have 

 been terribly heavy, was performed for centuries by oxen, the few horses 

 that were employed for what was considered to lie a somewhat degrading 



