130 THE HORSE, ASS, AND MULE 



and on the legs below the knee or hock being characteristic. 

 J^ray, black, sorrel, chestnut, and shades of roan also prevail 

 in a minor degree. The barrel of the Shire is larger and deeper 

 than that of the Clydesdale, thus giving more weight. The legs 

 are large and powerful and the bone fairly flat. British critics 

 in the past have objected to frequency of round cannons, and 

 flatter, stronger legs have become more common in recent years. 

 The back of the cannon bones, knees, and hocks have long, flow- 

 ing, fine hair in the best specimens of the breed. Excessive leg 

 hair and heavy bone are objected to as indicating sluggishness 

 and lack of quality, as compared with less hair and finer bone. 

 The pasterns have been subject to criticism as being too short 

 and not sloping enough, though modern types show improve- 

 ment here. The/tr/ are large and inclined to be flat at the heel. 

 The Iicad has a tendency to a Roman profile, while lack of breadth 

 between the eyes is perhaps too common. The croup is long, 

 broad, but not so level as with the Clydesdale, though the differ- 

 ence is not great. The action is greatly improved over early 

 days, nevertheless the Shire is more deficient in this feature 

 than the other draft breeds, still preserving more or less of its 

 early inherited sluggishness. 



Critics of the Shire in America have charged the breed with 

 lack of action, with too hairy a leg, which will probably never 

 be popular in this country, and with too flat a foot. This 

 accounts for the limited number of Shires imported during 

 recent years. 



Importation of Shires to America began many years ago, but 

 just when the first of this sort came over cannot be absolutely 

 stated. A horse named Tamvvorth, possibly of this breed, was 

 brought from England to London, Ontario, Canada, in 1836. 

 In 1847 another horse named King Alfred was imported. In 

 1853 a Mr. Strickland brou'jjht a stallion known as John Bull 

 from England to Aurora, Illinois, where he became well known. 

 Several others were imported into northern Illinois not long 

 after. George E. Brown, long a prominent Shire breeder at 

 Aurora, states that as far as he has been able to learn, the earliest 

 advertisement of Shires by any importer in Western agricultural 

 papers was in 1875. Along in the eighties many stallions were 



