THE SHIRE 



149 



The real origin of the Shire is fairly speculative. It is known 

 that horses of this large draft type existed in England from 

 very early times. We are told that a large draft type of horse 

 existed in Flanders, in Holland, and in Germany in the valley 

 of the Elbe, and that one hundred stallions were brought to 

 England from these coun- 

 tries as early as the twelfth 

 century. These were used 

 on the English horses of 

 large type. Referring to 

 the great paintings of cattle 

 and sheep made by Paul 

 Potter, who died in Am- 

 sterdam, Holland, in 1654, 

 Sir Walter Gilbey says ^ : 

 "It is only reasonable to 

 suppose that he exercised 

 equal care in painting 

 horses. The strain of 

 North German and Flan- 

 ders blood was at this period 

 so strongly represented in 

 our English Great Horses 

 of the best stamp that we 

 need not inquire whether 

 this horse was of German, 

 Flemish, or English origin, 

 the character of all being 

 practically the same." Thus 

 no doubt the early Shire 

 wasof veiymixed breeding. 



Robert Bakewell improved the Shire during the latter part 

 of the eighteenth century, though it was then known as the 

 Leicestershire Cart Horse. Bakewell was the earliest important 

 improver of the English Shire horse. He went to Holland 

 and imported mares, using them in systematic crossing with 



1 Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart., The Great Horse, or the War Horse ; from the time 

 of the Roman Invasion till ifi/fifesed(t5ffiA*Dto8eH®he Shire Horse. London, 1899. 



Fig. 56. "The Great Horse." Reproduced 

 from a drawing of the painting by Albert Diirer. 

 It is from this horse of the sixteenth century 

 that the Shire is supposed to have derived 

 its ancestry 



