TheEquine |

TheEquine : "The Shire Horse is the most numerous and largest of the heavy horses found in this country. For hundreds of years, the Shire Horse has been working with man in close harmony. The Shire Horse is the tallest of the modern draught breeds and can be black, brown, bay or grey in colouring. Its distinctive feature is long, silky hair, commonly white, on the lower part of its legs. A stallion may stand to 18 hand high or even more, and weigh a ton.
The medieval “Great Horse” came to England in 1066 with William the Conqueror and served in war as a living armoured tank until firearms made it obsolete. As a draught horse, one variety, boosted by importations from the Netherlands, emerged in the Eastern Counties during the 17th century as the “Black Horse” – dull in colour, gross and sluggish. Vastly improved in the Midlands by the disciples of Robert Bakewell (1725 – 1795) it became popularly known as the “Bakewell Black”.
By 1878, when the pedigree society was founded, black was a misnomer and the title “English Cart Horse” was adopted, but changed to “Shire” six years later. Meanwhile, the smaller Clydesdale in Scotland had been converted into a true heavy horse by using English stallions."