37 



end of the sixteenth century, when hand fire-arms began 

 to come into use. As the new weapon became more 

 generally employed, the plate armour, which furnished no 

 sufficient defence against the bullet, was discarded ; and 

 with its disappearance the necessity for using such 

 powerful chargers disappeared also. Horses of lighter 

 .and more active stamp replaced them for military 

 purposes, and the Great Horse found a new sphere of 

 utility as a draught horse, not only for cart but carriage 

 work, the wretched tracks which served as roads demand- 

 ing the use of heavy horses for the passenger vehicles of 

 those times. 



As the roads of the country were improved and 

 passenger carriages became lighter, the Great or Shire 

 Horse was displaced again by animals of a lighter stamp, 

 .and, since the later years of the eighteenth century, has 

 been appropriated to heavy draught work in country 

 and in town. 



I have sketched the history of the Great Horse 

 •elsewhere * ; and the foregoing brief summary perhaps 

 suffices for the present purpose. 



Grev Shire Horses 



It is worth noticing that two of the earliest pictures 

 ■of Shire Horses represent greys. These are a painting by 

 Albert Durer, executed in 1505, which shows an animal 

 of excellent conformation, tended by a man-at-arms, 

 •suggestive of the use made of the breed at that period, 

 and a picture by Paul Potter, dated 1652. It need hardly 

 be ' said that the Great Horses of those times varied in 

 ■colour as they do now. 



* The Great Horse or Shire Horse. 2nd Edition, By Sir Walter 

 •GiLBEY, Bart. Vinton & Co., London, i88g. 



