502 



The Shire Horse, 



[Sept., 



produces some grand geldings. The Percheron is mainly 

 in the hands of rich amateurs and at present has not gained 

 much ground among the tenant farmers of England. 



Attacks on the Shire and his work during the War were 

 made in the press but soon died out. The supporters of the 

 Shire do not suggest that every heavy horse with hair on his 

 legs that went to France was of superlative merit, but they 

 maintain that for the heaviest draught work, there was no other 

 breed to equal the Shire, and a very large proportion of the 

 horses in the heavy gun teams w^ere Shires. 



Further competition must be reckoned with, and as in war the 

 best defensive is the offensive every effort should be made to 

 push the interests of the Shire. For example, much good would 

 be done at the Suffolk, Essex and Norfolk Shows by strengthening 

 the classes for Shires so that a good representative collection of 

 the breed should be seen at these show^s. Above all, at the Royal, 

 the battle ground of the breeds, the classes should be well filled 

 and with the best examples of the breed available. 



It is gratifying to obsei^ve that the ruhng spirits in the Shire 

 world are taking steps to bring before the public at home and 

 abroad the merits of their breed as a heavy draught horse. 

 Unfortunately owing to the state of trade no immediate result 

 can be looked for abroad,, but efforts at home should soon bear 

 fruit. The Gelding Class at the Royal, w^hich was assisted by 

 the Shire Horse Society and which brought out probably the 

 finest collection of Geldings that has ever been seen, was a 

 notable gathering. The parade of these horses was one of the 

 most effective features of the Royal and the eighteen grand 

 specimens of the finished commercial article made a great 

 impression on the crowds who attended the Show. The Gelding 

 has been rather the " Cinderella " of the breed, and it is hoped 

 that further efforts will be made on these lines, as there is no 

 doubt that money spent on this object by the Shire Horse Society 

 is spent wisely and well. The announcement has recently been 

 made that the Shire Horse Society is presenting the Canadian 

 Government with a stallion and five mares. This should do 

 much for the breed, and result in an increased demand in that 

 great Dominion. 



The Future. — We are convinced that there is a great future 

 in front of the Shire if breeding is carried out on the right lines. 

 The question arises, as it does in every breed, " Is too much 

 attention given to fancy over utility points? " 



