[Illustration: _Photo by F. Babbage._
CHAMPION SHIRE STALLION, CHAMPION’S GOALKEEPER (30296).]
THE SHIRE HORSE
IN PEACE AND WAR
BY
J. ALBERT FROST
LONDON
VINTON & COMPANY, LTD.
8, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE, E.C.
1915
PREFACE
During the past year I have seen enquiries for a book on the management
of Shire Horses; therefore I have made an attempt to supply the want.
That the result leaves much--very much--to be desired I am well aware,
but at least the little work is free from fine phrases and technical
terms. Farmers prefer practical advice to literary merit in any book,
or paper, that they read, and this is written by one of their own class.
For six months England has been engaged in war, the most awful yet
waged for the reason that half the world is involved in it. It
naturally follows that little is read but war news. Consequently these
pages will be regarded as dull and uninteresting by those who have
become accustomed to thrilling stories from battlefields, seas, or
skies.
By those who take an interest in the world’s heaviest breed of horses,
as well as war news, this book may be tolerated, seeing that it deals
with the old “War Horse” of Britain, many true descendants being
actively engaged in moving “tons and guns” at the present time. I make
no claim to having written anything new, but as a kind of pocket record
of what Shire breeders, and exhibitors, have hitherto accomplished with
their animals the facts herein contained may be useful, and I hope that
all readers, as well as Shire breeders, will forgive any inaccuracies
in my figures and all the imperfections in this my first attempt at
book-writing.
In 1899 I won a small prize, offered by an agricultural paper for a
short article entitled “Rent-Paying Horses,” which I tried to point
out were Shire Horses. Since then I have contributed a little to the
live stock papers on the same subject, including an article for the
_Farmer and Stockbreeder Year Book_ of 1906, which is reprinted by the
editor’s permission. It was over the initials “S. H. L.,” which mean
“Shire Horse Lover.” I have been that from my school days, but never a
greater one than now.
J. ALBERT FROST.
THE HOMESTEAD,
BLETCHLEY, BUCKS.
_January, 1915._
For figures and quotations I am indebted to the Stud Books and
Catalogues of the Shire Horse Society; the Journals of the Royal
Agricultural Society of England; to articles on Shire Horses, in the
_Live Stock Journal Almanac_, by the late Mr. G. M. Sexton (who died in
1894); and his successor, Mr. A. C. Beck; also to the late Sir Walter
Gilbey’s book on _The Great Horse_, published in 1899.
J. A. F.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
AUTHOR’S PREFACE v
I. A POPULAR BREED 1
II. FOUNDING A STUD 8
III. THE SELECTION OF SIRES 12
IV. BREEDING FROM FILLIES 17
V. TEAM WORK 23
VI. REARING AND FEEDING 30
VII. CARE OF THE FEET 42
VIII. HOW TO SHOW A SHIRE 48
IX. ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE SHIRE 51
X. FACTS AND FIGURES 61
XI. HIGH PRICES 69
XII. A FEW RECORDS 76
XIII. JUDGES AT THE LONDON SHIRE SHOWS, 1890-1915 87
XIV. THE EXPORT TRADE 92
XV. PROMINENT PRESENT-DAY STUDS 103
XVI. THE FUTURE OUTLOOK 121
INDEX 127
ILLUSTRATIONS
STALLION: CHAMPION’S GOALKEEPER _Facing Title Page_
MARE: PAILTON SORAIS _Facing Page 1_
[Illustration: _Photo by F. Babbage._
CHAMPION SHIRE MARE, PAILTON SORAIS (45919).]
THE SHIRE HORSE IN PEACE AND WAR
CHAPTER I
A POPULAR BREED
There is no breed of horses which has attracted so much attention
during the past thirty years as the Old English War Horse. Originally
bred and preserved for fighting purposes, his size was increased by
importations of stallions and mares from Flanders--famous now and
henceforth as the battleground of the greatest war ever waged. In the
days when heavy armour was worn the cavalry horse could hardly be too
stout, and at that time ploughing was performed by oxen; but there
came a day when the English knights discarded their coats of mail and
thenceforward sought for light-legged mounts. This gave the horses bred
in “the Shires” a chance to distinguish themselves as draught horses,
for which their width of chest, short legs, and strong back were well
adapted: so the War Horse of the olden days became the Old English Cart
Horse.
Farmers--particularly Robert Bakewell--discovered that they could do
double, or treble, the quantity of ploughing with a pair of these
heavy horses that they could with an ox team; therefore draught horses
superseded bullocks for agricultural and haulage purposes, which meant
that they were bred for weight and substance, the biggest and heaviest
being regarded as the best.
Pedigrees of these massive animals were kept by a few progressive
breeders from the year 1800, at least; therefore it was not difficult
to compile a stud book for this Old English breed when a society, to
protect its interests, and promote its breeding, was formed in 1878
by a body of admirers, among whom the late Sir Walter Gilbey was
conspicuous. Included were also the Earl of Ellesmere, Earl Spencer,
Lord Wantage, Lord Egerton of Tatton, the Hon. Edward Coke, Mr.
Chandos Pole-Gell, Mr. Anthony Hamond, and Messrs. George and Frederic
Street, while H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) was a keen
supporter of the Shire Horse Society from its inception.
All of those named have passed away; but not before they had seen their
efforts bear rich fruit in the rapid establishment of the industry of
Shire Horse breeding at home, and the world-wide fame achieved by the
breed abroad, but particularly in the United States of America, to
which country the majority of those exported have been sent.
Great changes have occurred since the Hon. E. Coke’s dispersion sale
at Longford Hall, Derby, in October, 1889, this being the first of
which the writer possesses a catalogue. It was caused by his death,
and his stud manager went from thence to take charge of the Royal Stud
of Shires at Sandringham for King Edward, who proved to be a very
successful breeder. Two champion mares, Gloaming and Solace, were bred,
and more than one successful sale held at Sandringham in the ’nineties
of last century, a decade during which it became the fashion for
landowners and wealthy men to own a stud of Shires so that they almost
tumbled over each other to secure the most notable specimens for their
studs. (The last sale of King Edward’s Shires was held at Wolferton in
1907.) The result was a reign of high prices which led many farmers
to believe that Shire Horse breeding was beyond the reach of their
pockets. Stud sales to the number of ten or twelve were held each year
from 1890 to 1902, when the total was fourteen and the number of Shires
sold 583, after which they began to dwindle till the past year of 1914,
during which there was not a single home sale.
To an outsider this might be taken to prove that the love and
enthusiasm for the Old English breed had fizzled out, that the Shire
had been “weighed in the balances and found wanting.” Nothing could be
further from the truth. The last home sale held was the most successful
that ever took place. Thirty-two animals, including several yearlings,
averaged £454 each at Lord Rothschild’s sale on February 14th, 1913,
one two-year-old colt, Champion’s Goalkeeper, making the record price
for a Shire of 4,100 guineas. After this one may well wonder why such
a good method of selling has been abandoned. The chief reason is that
the industry is no longer confined to those who live in mansions, or
think--financially--in thousands. It has become part of the routine of
hundreds of English tenant farmers to rear Shire horses, and as they
have only a few animals to offer at one time the Repository Sale has
superseded the Home gathering, helpful though these fraternal meetings
have always proved to the breed’s interests.
As before stated, most of those who held sales have gone the way of
all flesh, but besides those already named may be mentioned Sir P. A.
Muntz, Lord Llangattock, Mr. John Parnell, Mr. Fred Crisp, Mr. Philo L.
Mills, Mr. James Eadie, Mr. Arthur Ransom, and Mr. J. A. Barrs. All of
these were buyers, breeders, and exhibitors of the best in their day,
together with others too numerous to mention.
The loss of these supporters has, however, been made good by new ones,
more numerous, if less influential; therefore the Shire breeding
industry has never been on a broader base than it is to-day.
These lines are being written when horses are in greater demand for
war purposes than they have ever been before in the world’s history,
and although the Shire has for generations been transformed into a
peace, rather than a war, horse he has not escaped the notice of the
army buyer. We have it on the best authority--that of the official
auctioneer to the Shire Horse Society--that “many a pure-bred Shire
mare and gelding are now pulling heavy guns and transport waggons in
France and Belgium, besides which nearly all the best gunners are by
Shire stallions.”
It is scarcely necessary to point out that the best Shires of this
period weigh over one ton, and to pull weight you must have weighty
animals; therefore these massive modern cart horses are just as useful
in hauling heavy guns, the most effective weapons in modern warfare, as
their ancestors were in carrying the bold British knights cased from
head to foot in steel armour.
But war, though it lasts long--too long--comes to an end, and when this
one does horses will be wanted in thousands to make up for those lost
by the eight or nine nations now fighting for their existence.
It is perfectly clear that the great studs of Shires as they existed
a few years ago are being dispersed. Very few breeders of the present
time could have sixty high class animals paraded, as the late Lord
Ellesmere did for the benefit of visitors to the Worsley show in
August, 1889; but scores of farmers could muster a team or two of good
Shire mares; therefore it is obvious that, whatever the future of the
Shire may be, English farmers will do much towards shaping it.