SHIRE HORSES AT ISLINGTON 67 



because the number of pedigree animals will be beyond 

 measure increased. But the financial result, spread 

 over a wider field, will be even more satisfactory than 

 at present, just as the broad improvement of shorthorn 

 cattle has added to the wealth not of individuals, but of 

 the country it has raised the value of Irish exported 

 cattle, for instance, by some three pounds per head. At 

 present the prices for shire horses are steadily rising, both 

 for actual work and for breeding. Mr. Freeman Mitford, 

 President of the Society, obtained seven hundred and 

 twenty guineas for a six-year-old stallion, three hundred 

 and twenty guineas for a three-year-old mare, and two 

 hundred and ten guineas for a yearling filly. 



At Lord Wantage's sale no less than eight hundred 

 guineas was paid for a six-year-old mare. Messrs. 

 Clark and Griffin, farmers, were as successful in a 

 recent sale as their wealthier competitors, making an 

 average of 150 for their shire horses. The 'man in 

 the street ' would scarcely believe that the big, slow 

 horses in the railway-van are often more valuable than 

 the showy animals in the landau which passes them ; 

 but this is often the case, and the former justify their 

 price by work done. In developing the size of these 

 horses, only one serious drawback has been encountered 

 by the breeders. Their enormous weight causes a 

 tendency to an ossification of the side cartilage of the 

 foot, which is called * side-bone.' 



52 



