Shire horse

Shire
Shire horse
Distinguishing features:	Draught horse, average height 17.2 hands high. Legs often have white stockings with long hairs ('feather')
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Breed standards
Shire Horse Society:	Breed Standards
American Shire Horse Association:	Breed Standards

The Shire horse is a breed of draught horse (BrE) or draft horse (AmE). It is the tallest of the modern draught breeds, and a stallion may stand 18 hands or more (about 180 cm). Their weight is frequently in the region of a short ton (910 kg or roughly 2000lbs).

Characteristics

Dark bay Shire horses at pasture

The Shire horse is a draught horse, with powerful and muscular build, a dense rounded body, a broad back, strong loins, powerful hind-quarters, and long legs with dense bones. The breed standard is set by the Shire Horse Society in the United Kingdom,^[1] and the American Shire Horse Association in the United States.^[2] Shire horses can be black, bay (sometimes called "brown"), or gray. In the United Kingdom Shire stallions must not be roan or chestnut, although mares and geldings can be roan. In the United States, roaning is considered "undesirable" but chestnut (also known as "sorrel") is permitted, though considered rare.^[2] The legs should have white stockings or socks (except on gray horses). The hair down the back of the legs is called the "feather", while the hair over the foot is known as the "spats".

Shire horses average around 17.2 hands (178 cm) tall at maturity (measured at the withers, with the breed standard being at least 17 hands, although a Shire horse was recorded reaching over 21.2 hands (220 cm). The girth of a Shire horse varies from 6 feet (1.8 m) to 8 ft (2.4 m). Shire stallions weigh, on average, between 144 st (910 kg; 2,020 lb) and 176 st (1,120 kg; 2,460 lb).

The head should be long and lean, with a Roman nose and widely-spaced eyes. The breed standard specifies that the eyes should be docile in expression, and they are generally brown. The neck should be long and lean, with an arch. This leads to a short, muscular back, with no pronounced dipping or roaching.

Breed history

A pair of Shire horses ploughing

Like its close relative, the Clydesdale, the Shire horse is descended from the Great Horse brought to England in 1066 by William the Conqueror.^[3][4] Only stallions were imported, to carry knights in armour into battle—weighing up to 32 stones (450 lb or 205 kg)—and it is probable that they bred with native mares in the vicinity. Though oxen were used for most farm work into the 18th century, horses 'fit for the dray, the plough, or the chariot' were on sale at Smithfield Market in London as early as 1145.^[4]

A hundred horses 'of large stature' were imported into England from the Low Countries during the reign of King John. When Robert the Bruce rode a palfrey in the Battle of Bannockburn (1314), the English knights, mounted on heavy horses, realised a lighter, more maneuverable horse was needed. Horse breeding became important again during the reign of Henry VII, from 1485, and laws were passed making it illegal to export mares worth more than 6s. 8d. and stallions. At about this time, the practice of gelding (castrating) male horses began, again making breeding more selective.

The English Great Horse was valued during the reign of Henry VIII, when stallions measuring less than 'fifteen handfuls' could not be kept, but the advent of gunpowder in the late 16th century brought an end to the use of the Great Horse in battle. Oliver Cromwell's cavalry favoured lighter, faster mounts and the big horses began to be used for draught work instead. Stage coaches needed strong horses to draw them and the Great Horse found a new niche.^[4]

From this medieval horse came an animal called the Old English Black Horse in the 17th century. The Black Horse was improved by the followers of Robert Bakewell, of Dishley Grange in Leicestershire,^[4] resulting in a horse commonly known as the "Bakewell Black."^[5] Bakewell imported six Dutch or Flanders mares, notable since breeders tended to concentrate on improving the male line. Two different types of black horse developed: the Fen or Lincolnshire type and the Leicester or Midlands type.^[4]

When the pedigree society was founded in 1878, the name was changed to English Cart Horse, since "black" was a misnomer.^[5] Six years later, the name was again changed to Shire. The breed was improved during the following years as rigorous veterinary examinations virtually eliminated the old unsoundness of wind and limb. With the increased use of mechanized farm and transport equipment, the numbers of Shire horses began to decline. By the middle of the 20th century their numbers had dwindled to a small fraction of what they had been in their heyday.^{[citation needed]}

Numbers of Shires are on the rise again, however. They are now widely used in breeding heavier hunter types by crosses with Thoroughbred mares, and are also seen in Draught or Draft horse competition worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

Uses

Shire horse competing in trade turnout class

The Shire horse was originally the staple breed used to draw carts to deliver ale from the brewery to the public houses. Owing to practicality and modernisation, this is a tradition that only remains at a few breweries in the UK. These include the Wadworth Brewery in Devizes Wiltshire, the Hook Norton Brewery, the Samuel Smith Brewery in Tadcaster^[6], which maintains a small stable of grey shires to deliver to public houses within a seven mile (11 km) radius, and Thwaites Brewery in Blackburn, which resumed horse-drawn deliveries in May 2008.^[7] The former Bass Museum, Burton upon Trent (Now Coors Visitor Centre) has a small stable of shire horses which it uses for promotional events. ^[8]. Several breweries have recently withdrawn their shire horse teams, including the Tetley brewery in Leeds.^[9]

World records

Goliath

Shire horses on average tend to be the tallest and heaviest of all draft breeds, though some individuals of other breeds may, on occasion, achieve a comparable height or weight.

The Shire horse holds the record for the world's biggest horse; Sampson, foaled in 1846 in Toddington Mills, Bedfordshire, England, stood 21.2½ hands high (i.e. 7 ft 2½ in or 2.20 m at his withers) by the time he was a four year old, when he was re-named Mammoth. His peak weight was estimated at over 3,300 lb (approx 1.5 long tons).

The most recent Shire to hold the record was Goliath, a dray horse for the Young & Co. brewery who held the Guinness World Record for the tallest living horse at 19.2 hh (1.98 m) until he died in July 2001.

See also

• List of horse breeds

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Shire horse

• http://www.shire-horses.org/ The Friendly Shire Club - A club for ownwers to meet other owners, ask questions, share photos and have chats!
• http://www.equiworld.net/uk/horsecare/Breeds/shire/
• http://www.shire-horse.org.uk/index.html The Shire Horse Society
• http://www.shirehorse.org/ American Shire Horse Association
• http://www.canadianshirehorse.com/ Canadian Shire Horse Association
• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/workhorses-of-britains-farms-and-battlefields-face-extinction-within-years-1519070.html/ Workhorses of Britain's farms and battlefields face extinction within years, The Independent, January 29, 2009

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