- Shire - |
|||
 The massive Shire horse was developed in the United Kingdom's Fen counties and in the Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire. This is quite obviously how it got its name. These horses can be traced back to the English Great Horse of the Middle Ages, and also to the primitive Forest Horse. Throughout the 17th century, many Flanders Horses and Friesians were brought over to England by the Dutch contractors, who were employed to work on the land reclamation going on in the Fens. Both of the previously mentioned breeds had a considerable effect on the development of the Shire. Interbreeding between the Great Horse, the Friesian, and finally the Flanders, produced the English Black, so named by Oliver Cromwell. This new breed was much larger than the Great Horse, although it exhibited many of the features of the Flanders horse and the predominantly black coloring passed down from the Friesian. The Shire's foundation sire is believed to be Packington Blind, who sired the first Shires to appear in the studbook of 1878. The Shire Horse Society was formed in 1884. Until World War Two, an incredible number of Shires were registered every year during that time period. They became very popular horses, mainly due to their extreme pulling power. This has not yet been surpassed by any other horse breed. These horses are used for all different kinds of agricultural tasks. After the second World War, the number of Shires decreased dramatically, although recently there has been an interest revival. This is partly due to the support of beer breweries, who continue to use the Shire throughout the country for demonstrations and shows. This breed is known for its docile, gentle nature, which makes them quite easy to handle despite their size. For appearance's sake they are big-barreled horses with long legs. Their legs are known for lots and lots of feathering. They have fairly attractive heads that often are Roman-nosed and honest-looking. There is a lot of space between their eyes, which are intelligent and kind. They have kind of small, alert ears and a longish, slightly arched neck. They have good, strong, sloping shoulders and rounded muscular quarters Generally they are black, bay, gray, chestnut, and brown. Most of the time they have white on their legs and faces, and they stand up to 18 hands high. There are even recorded cases of Shires exceeding this height! The tallest known horse was a Shire gelding named Sampson. He was foaled in 1846, measured 21.2 hands high, and weighed 3,360 pounds. That's a big horse!!
|
|||
|