CHAPTER XXIII 



MODERN FARM LIVE STOCK 



CART HORSES 



ARTHUR YOUNG at the end of the eighteenth century 

 found only two kinds of cart horses worthy of mention, the 

 Shire and the Suffolk Punch ; to-day, besides these two, we 

 have the Clydesdale. 



The Shire horse, according to Sir Walter Gilbey, is the 

 purest survival of the Great Horse of mediaeval times, 

 known also as the War Horse, and the Old English Black 

 Horse. It is the largest of draught horses, attaining a height 

 of 17 to 17-3 hands and a weight of 2,200 lb., its general 

 characteristics being immense strength, symmetrical propor- 

 tions, bold free action, and docile disposition. In 1878 the 

 Shire Horse Society was established to improve the breed, 

 and distribute sound and healthy sires through the country. 



The Clydesdale, whose native home is the valley of the 

 Clyde, is not so large as the Shire, but strong, active, and 

 a fine worker. They are either derived from a cross between 

 Flemish stallions and Lanarkshire mares, or are an improve- 

 ment of the old Lanark breed. 1 



The Suffolk Punch looks what he is a thorough farm 

 horse. He stands lower than the two former breeds, but 

 weighs heavily, often 2,000 Ib. They are generally chestnut 

 or light dun in colour, and their legs are without the feather 

 of the Clydesdale and Shire. They have been long asso- 

 ciated with Suffolk, and were mentioned by Camden in 1586. 

 According to the Suffolk Stud Book of 1880, the Suffolk 



1 Youatt, Complete Grazier (1900), p. 388 ; cf. pp. 104-5. 



