56 



Horse was still characteristic, in some degree 

 at least, of the Shire at the end of the last 

 century; this engraving, published at the time, 

 shows a horse named Elephant, whose por- 

 trait was painted in 1792 by an artist whose 

 name is unknown. An inscription on the 

 frame tells us that this horse was '' supposed 

 to be one of the most boney horses ever 

 seen ; " at four years old he " is said to 

 have stood 16*2 " and to have girthed 8 feet, 

 while he measured round the knee-joint i6| 

 inches. He was plainly a horse of great 

 muscular development and big bone, while 

 his attitude suggests the activity and spirit 

 that distinguished the War Horse from 

 which he was descended. 



From one of Garrard's pictures now hang- 

 ing in the Council Room of the Shire Horse 

 Society, we take our engraving of this 

 gelding which was in use at Whitehead's 

 Brewery in 1792, and was therefore a con- 

 temporary of the horse painted by George 

 Morland, and of Elephant. This picture 

 served as an illustration in Garrard's series 

 of engravings of British Farm Stock. It is 

 the likeness of an excellent horse — " type 

 perfect, flat bone, with good hocks, pasterns 

 and feet." Apparently this is a fen-bred 

 horse ; a chestnut with the white face and 



