I10ESES AND MULES 



297 



shows a fast, elastic walk and a fairly 

 good trot. The waist is sometimes too 

 small, the back too long and the feet too 

 flat In these points much improve- 

 ment has been made of late. The fore- 

 head is broad, hindquarters well devel- 

 oped, leg joints strong, tail well carried. 

 The special merits of the Clydesdale are 

 the smooth, clean legs, and the long, 

 graceful strides. This breed was firs I 

 imported into Canada in 1842, into the 

 United States in 18S0 and the first 



but rather too small, with a tendency to 

 curb, prepotency marked, disposition 

 sluggish. The Suffolk keeps easily and 

 is well adapted as a plow horse to or- 

 dinary farm conditions. He is not popu- 

 lar either in Canada or the United 

 States and there are only about 20 regis- 

 tered in this country. (For secretary, 

 see appendix.) 



The Shire horse—The black horse of 

 Flanders, imported to England and 

 crossed on native heavy mares, gave rise 



Fig. 209 — MRS. COURTLAND H. SMITH ON PRIZE HUNTER 



American stud book appeared in 1882. 

 There are 11,000 Clydesdales registered 

 in this country. (For secretary, see 

 appendix.) 



The Suffolk Punch comes from the 

 county of Suffolk, England, where he has 

 been bred in his present form for more 

 than 200 years. Chestnut or sorrel is 

 the only color allowed. The Suffolk 

 stands 15 to IGV2 hands high, weighs 1,500 

 to 1,900 and is rounder in conforma- 

 tion than the Clydesdale or Shire horse. 

 The back is broad and short, less clean 



to the old war horse or "great horse," 

 which was much in favor as a charger in 

 the days of knight errantry. Its descend- 

 ants appeared as the black Lincoln- 

 shire horse early in the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, which in turn became the pro- 

 genitors of the modern Shire horse. A 

 modern Shire stallion from King Ed- 

 ward's stables is shown in Fig. 2, page 8. 

 Gilbey believes that this horse traces his 

 ancestry back to the horses found in 

 England by Csesar, 



