THE SHIRE 



125 



of the Elbe, and that one hundred stallions were brought to 

 England from these countries as early as the twelfth century. 

 These were used on the English horses of large type. Referring 

 to the great paintings of cattle and sheep made by Paul Potter, 

 who died in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1654, Sir Walter Gilbey 

 says : " It is only reasonable to suppose that he exercised equal 

 care in painting horses. The strain of North German and 

 Flanders blood was at this period so strongly represented in 

 our English Great Horses of the best stamp that we need not 

 inquire whether this horse was of German, Flemish, or English 

 origin, the character of all being practically the same." Thus 

 no doubt the early Shire was of very mixed breeding. 



Robert Bakewell improved the Shire during the latter part of 

 the eighteenth century, though it was then known as the Leices- 

 tershire Cart Horse. Bakewell was one of the earliest important 

 improvers of the English Shire horse. He went to Holland and 

 imported mares, using them in systematic crossing with Eng- 

 lish stallions. He pursued a careful course of selection and 

 added to the value of the breed, It was during this century that 

 this class of horses came into use for draft and farming purposes, 

 the coat of armor having become obsolete. With the improve- 

 ment of roads and the use of coaches the draft horse came into 

 special demand. Gilbey, in his interesting historical work on 

 The Great Horse, gives copies of pictures of Shire horses : 

 one, the horse Elephant, by an unknown artist about 1792 ; 

 another, a gelding in use by a brewery in 1792, painted by 

 Garrard ; and a third, of two horses, Pirate and Outlaw, painted 

 in 1810 by Zeitter. These horses are all of draft character, with 

 hairy legs, mane, and tail. 



The old-fashioned type of Shire was large, coarse, and slow. 

 They had big heads, coarse ears, and their thick lips had long 

 hairs on them. The shoulders were heavy, the legs hairy, and 

 the pasterns straight. Their action was sluggish, but their tem- 

 perament was mild. Excess of hair seemed a characteristic, as 

 based on some of the pictures extant. In 1842 Low wrote : 



The modern English black horse retains the general characteristics of 

 the preexisting race, but greatly modified. His color is usually a sooty 

 black, with frequently a white lozenge-shaped mark on the forehead ; and 



