THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 199 



HorsC'breedingm 



IMPROVEMENT IN SHIRES; 



THE change that has come over the 

 horses that we see working on llie 

 land, or feeding in the pastures of an 

 evening as we drive through the country, 

 is a very marked one in Lincolnshire and 

 the other more active agricultural parts 

 of the country. The Shire Horse Society 

 has been mainly instrumental in bringing 

 this state of things about in the part of 

 the country best known to me. When 

 private gentlemen of fortune take up 

 breeding as a hobby and intellect iial 

 study, in time a grand result may be ex- 

 pected. This has certainly been the ease 

 with the cart-horse of the Eastern Coun- 

 ties, which has gradually evolved into an 

 animal of the finest parts. The horse of 

 to-day is different in all respects, but in 

 name and descent, from the specimens ex- 

 hibited at our first shows in London. He 

 is as far superior to his forbears as the 

 improved Lincoln or Leicester sheep is 

 to its progenitors. Grace, action, and 

 quality — beauty, to use one word in its 

 most horsey sense — are now combined 

 with a sound constitution, and legs and 

 pasterns of a type rarely seen in the old 

 days. Along with these traits of new 

 character the modern horse stands on legs 

 and feet fully calculated to carry his 

 weighty frame and abundant clothing of 

 muscle through a long and active working 

 life. If there is a point in wliich we think 

 there is a little going back from the best 

 type of working horse, and a little altera- 

 tion is necessary, it is in the matter of 

 weight in normal working condition. 

 Your thickset man of medium height can 

 put the little or big man easily into his 

 proper place in working, and it is the 

 same with the horse. 



Show Animals. 



As a rule most of our mares and show 

 sires have been bred with an eye for their 

 show-ring quality rather than for prac- 

 tical work-a-day life, and during this 

 process they have lost some of their car- 

 case, weight, and power, which is so es- 



sential to a horse when starting a heavy 

 load. Surely it is for hard work and the 

 transport of heavy goods that the Shire 

 has been evolved ? It has not been pro- 

 duced merely for pleasure or show pur- 

 poses, and it will be the greatest pity if 

 we let it degenerate from the highest 

 working standard. 



The dog and fowl show mania have 

 proved how the show-ring type can oust 

 more practical forms from public favour. 

 Points in animals and birds are only valu- 

 able as long as they serve a useful pur- 

 pose in preserving valuable qualities. 

 When they become purely artificial, like 

 white legs or feathers of a certain C()b)ur 

 or shape, they become a hindrance rallier 

 than an advantage. The Londnii Sbiro 

 show of this year struck me as rather 

 tending towards the artificial extreme ; 

 and this drift is a most dangerous ])itfall 

 for all breeding societies which shouhl be 

 most carefully avoided. We would 

 rather see the cham])ion cu])s for the best 

 horse and mare carrid oil by inferior 

 "looking" animals, than that the most 

 serviceable "workino- animal" should be 

 at a discount. — "The Parmer." 



A correspondent writes :— " You referred in a 

 recent Scrap to the value attached to the 

 various colours of horses. Looking; through the 

 volume on ' Leechdoms,' in the ' Chronicles and 

 Memorials of Great Biitain,' the other day, I 

 found that the Saxons interpreted the colours 

 of horses seen in dreams to signify various 

 things. ' To sit on a white horse betokens 

 good luck. To sit on a black horse betokens 

 anxiety. To sit on a dun horse betokens 

 advancement. To sit on a brown horse betokpns 

 misconduct.' If you dreamt that you saw a wild 

 horse running, or you got harm from sac'-, 

 meant that some mischief wou'd befall you. 

 Every animal seems to have meant something 

 to the old Saxon dreaming. To see a pig be- 

 tokened indisposition. A hen laying eggs in- 

 dicated gain with carefulness ; a hen with 

 chickens, increase of trade. Oxen grazing meant 

 success in trade ; oxen sleeping, bad luck in 

 trade. If you dreamt that you rode a foal it 

 indicated cheating in trade, but whether you 

 would cheat somebody or somebody would cheat 

 you the 'prophet' who compiled this useful 

 manual omits to say. 



