HORSES OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS 135 



These white markings are, indeed, very distinctive 

 of the breed, which is further characterised by the 

 relatively small size of the head, the short and 

 heavy neck, thick and powerful shoulders, rounded 

 and deep body, short and broad loins, massive 

 hind-quarters, and enormously strong limbs, of 

 which the lower portions are short and compressed, 

 with an abundance of long hair on the fetlocks, the 

 hoofs large and rounded, the frog well developed, 

 and the lower surface of the hoof moderately arched. 

 Nowadays grey is much less common in this breed 

 than formerly ; the same being the case among 

 thorouo^hbreds. 



With such a build and size, shire horses are of 

 course capable of performing extraordinary feats of 

 power ; and they have the further advantage of 

 possessing a very docile and tractable disposition, 

 which, under careful training, renders them ex- 

 tremely intelligent. Examples of this docility and 

 intelligence are displayed by shires employed for 

 hauling and shunting trucks on British railways. 



The skull of a shire stallion is shown in plate iv. 

 fig. I, and a cannon-bone in plate i. fig. i. 



