26 Animal Husbandry 
short and powerfully muscled legs, and to the rather short and 
straight pasterns (Fig. 11). 
Fic. 11.—The Shire draft horse. 
34. The Belgian draft horse. — For many centuries Belgium 
has been noted for the size and quality of her horses. The very 
early literature states that the people of Belgium were very good 
judges of horses and that they were willing to pay high prices for a 
superior class of horses. Unlike most other draft breeds that have 
been developed, this breed has been almost entirely the product 
of its environment. In the development of the breed, no partic- 
ular animals appear to have been prominent nor has any breeder 
of outstanding merit appeared. The breed owes its improvement 
to the efforts of many small breeders working with a few animals 
each, rather than a few breeders working with many horses each 
as is usually the case. Modern improvement, however, is 0! 
comparatively recent date and is due to the efforts of the govern: 
