THE SHIRE HORSE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1856, 17 June 1887, Page 7

THE SHIRE HORSE.

A short history of the shire horse has been given by Mr Walter Gilbey in the preface to his private stud book, from which we take following particulars :—": — " The breed can be distinctly traced back to a period of some three centuries ago. One of the earliest records is written by William Stephanided, a monk of Canterbury, born in London, who wrote during the reign of Henry 11, 1154, and says : ' Without one of the London City Gates is a certain Smoothfield (Smithfield). Every Friday there is a brave sight of gallant horses to be sold.' Nags, trotting horses, young colt and brest, or perhaps raoe horses are described ; and he ooncludes : * There are also cart horses fit for the dray, or the plough, or the chariot, and some mares big with foal, together with others that have their wanton colts following them close at their side.' In the reign of Henry VIII, great attention was directed to the raising or breeding of strong horses, and laws were passed specially with that object. To secure the strength and size desired, it was thought necessary at that time to select sires and dams of a certain size and mould, and mares and stallions were.

only allowed to treed therefore under certain restrictions. A law was passed in the year 1511 (32 Henry VIII' c. 13) enacting; 'That no person shall put in any forest, chase, moor, heath, common or waste (where mares and fillies are used to be kept) any stoned horse above the age of two years, not being lo hands high, within the shires and territories of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Buckingham, Huntingdon, Essex, Kent, South Hampshire, North Wiltshire, Oxford, Berkshire, Worcester, Gloucester, Somerset, South Wales, Bedford, Warwick, Northampton, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, Salop, Leicester, Hereford, and Lincoln.' This statute no doubt served to build up what has since come to be called the breed of the shire horse. It must be borne in mind that much of this original desire to obtain a breed of stout and powerful horses arose out of the demand for horses for purposes of war to carry the cavaliers in heavy armour for tournaments, &c, and for the various pageants which formed a part of all grand state solemnities as well as for cavalry and military purposes generally., Coming down to a later period, if we go "back to 200 years from the present time, there still exist a few old standard works which make reference to a disfcinct breed of English cart horse, notably, a work by the Duke of Newcastle, published in 1658, entitled ' The Manner of Feeding, Dressing, and Training of Horses for the Great Saddle, and Fitting Them for the Service of: the Field in Time of War,' &c, which makes mention of the ' carthorse.' Again, when Arthur Young wrote his work in the latter part of the Lost century, describ ■ ing his tours through the counties of England and Scotland, he mentioned only two varities of cart horse as deserving attention — the large black old English horse ' the produce principally of the shire counties in the heart of England, and the sorrell-coloured Suffolk punch, for which the sandy tract of country near Woodbridge is famous.' From the above remarks it will be seen that a century ago the shire breed was widely spread throughout England. The animal was indeed at that time found in numbers distributed through the district between the Hnmber and the Cam, occupying the rich fen-lands of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, aud extending westward through the counties of Huntingdon, Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Warwick, and Stafford to the Severn. While extensively bred in these districts o£ rioh pastures the breed was not, however, limited to the counties just named. It was to be found both northward and southward, retaining its typical character, and varying only but slightly with the soil, and climate, and food." — Mark Lane Express.