51 



the similar state of affairs three hundred 

 years previously, when the Wars of the 

 Roses created a demand for horses which 

 private owners took extreme measures to 

 avoid satisfying at their own expense 

 (pages 19-20). 



This excerpt also furnishes us with a link 

 between past and present ; for volume i. of 

 the Shire Horse Stud Book contains men- 

 tion of several of the orginal Derbyshire 

 stallions named Gallemore, which were no 

 doubt called after their owners. The stud 

 referred to was stabled at Croxden Abbey — 

 "and from its courtyard the horses went 

 forth into hidino-. Thouo-h it cannot be 

 stated as an absolute fact, all the evidence 

 points to the famous Packington Blind Horse 

 having been begotten at this same place " 

 {Ibid., p. 16). 



The direct descendants of the Packino-ton 

 Blind Horse (believed to have been in his 

 full vigour from 1755 to 1770) are traced 

 down to the year 1832. 



It is certain that this breed, for which 

 War Horse, Great Horse, Old English 

 Black Horse or Shire Horse are terms used 

 at different periods, has been distributed for 

 centuries through the district betw^een the 

 H umber and the Cam, occupying the rich 



