CHAPTER XVI

THE FUTURE OUTLOOK

This book is written when war, and all that pertains to it, is the absorbing topic. In fact, no other will be listened to. What is the good of talking about such a peaceful occupation as that of agriculture while the nation is fighting for its very existence? To a certain extent this can be understood, but stock breeding, and more particularly horse breeding, cannot be suspended for two or three seasons and then resumed without causing a gap in the supply of horses coming along for future use.

The cry of the army authorities is for “more and more men,” together with a demand for a constant supply of horses of many types, including the weight-moving War Horse, and if the supply is used up, with no provision being made for a quantity of four-footed recruits to haul the guns or baggage waggons in the days to come, the British Army, and most others, will be faced with a problem not easily solved.

The motor-mad mechanic may think that his chance has come, but generals who have to lead an army over water-logged plains, or snow-covered mountains, will demand horses, hitherto--and henceforth--indispensable for mounting soldiers on, rushing their guns quickly into position, or drawing their food supplies and munitions of war after them.

When the mechanic has provided horseless vehicles to do all this, horse breeding can be ignored by fighting men--not before. But horses, particularly draft horses, are needed for commercial use. So far, coal merchants are horse users, while brewers, millers, and other lorry users have not altogether discarded the horse-drawn vehicle.

For taking loads to and from the landing stage at Liverpool heavy horses will be in great demand after the war--perhaps greater than they have ever been. The railways will continue to exist, and, while they do, powerful Shire geldings must be employed; no other can put the necessary weight into the collar for shunting loaded trucks.

During the autumn of 1914 no other kind of advice--although they got plenty of it--was so freely and so frequently given to farmers as this, “grow more wheat.”

If this has been acted upon, and there is no doubt that it has, at least to some extent, it follows, as sure as the night follows the day, that more horses will be required by those who grow the wheat. The land has to be ploughed and cultivated, the crop drilled, cut, carted home and delivered to mill, or railway truck, all meaning horse labour.

It may happen that large farmers will use motor ploughs or steam waggons, but these are beyond the reach of the average English farmer. Moreover, when bought they depreciate in value, whether working or standing idle, which is exactly what the Shire gelding or brood mare does not do. If properly cared for and used they appreciate in value from the time they are put to work until they are six or seven years old, and by that age most farmers have sold their non-breeders to make room for younger animals. Horse power is therefore the cheapest and most satisfactory power for most farmers to use in front of field implements and farm waggons, a fact which is bound to tell in favour of the Shire in the coming times of peace which we anticipate.

When awarding prizes for the best managed farm, the judges appointed by the Royal Agricultural Society of England are instructed to consider--

“General Management with a view to profit,” so that any breed of live stock which leaves a profit would help a competitor.

Only a short time ago a Warwickshire tenant farmer told his landlord that Shire horses had enabled himself and many others to attend the rent audit, “with a smile on his face and the rent in his pocket.”

Most landlords are prepared to welcome a tenant in that state, therefore they should continue to encourage the industry as they have done during the past twenty-five years.

Wars come to an end--the “Thirty Years’ War” did--so let us remember the Divine promise to Noah after the flood, “While the earth remaineth seedtime and harvest … shall not cease,” Gen. 8:22. As long as there is sowing and reaping to be done horses--Shire horses--will be wanted.

“Far back in the ages The plough with wreaths was crowned; The hands of kings and sages Entwined the chaplet round; Till men of spoil disdained the toil By which the world was nourished, And dews of blood enriched the soil Where green their laurels flourished: Now the world her fault repairs-- The guilt that stains her story; And weeps; her crimes amid the cares That formed her earliest glory. The glory, earned in deadly fray, Shall fade, decay and perish. Honour waits, o’er all the Earth Through endless generations, The art that calls her harvests forth And feeds the expectant nations.”

INDEX

A

Alston Rose, champion mare 1901 … 104

Armour-clad warriors, 1, 7

Army horses, 6

Ashbourne Foal Show, 80

Attention to feet, 42

Aurea, champion mare, 18, 65

Author’s Preface, v

Average prices, 76

B

Back breeding, value of, 11, 13, 39

Bakewell, Robert, 2, 22, 54

Bardon Extraordinary, champion gelding, 65, 78

Bardon Stud, 118

Bar None, 80

Bearwardcote Blaze, 60

Bedding, 35

Birdsall Menestrel, 84, 111

---- stud, 110

Black horses, Bakewell’s, 55

Black horses from Flanders, 58

Blagdon Stud, 110

Blending Shire and Clydesdale breeds, 59

Boiled barley, 36

Bradley, Mr. John, 83

Bramhope stud, 111

Breeders, farmer, 27

Breeders, prizes for, 65

Breeding from fillies, 17

Breeding, time for, 31

Bury Victor Chief, champion in 1892 … 68, 69

Buscot Harold, champion stallion, 17, 65

C

Calwich Stud, 61, 80

Canada, 101

Carbonite, 103

Care of the feet, 42

Carlton Stud, 116

Cart-colts, 23

Cart-horses, 54

Castrating colts, 39

Certificate of Soundness, 62

Champion’s Goalkeeper, champion in 1913 and 1914 … 67, 104

Champions bred at Sandringham, 3

Cheap sires, 12

Clark, Mr. A. H., 79

Clydesdales, 58

Coats of mail, 51

Coke’s, Hon. E., dispersion sale, 3

Colonies, 94

Colour, 38

Composition of food, 33

Condition and bloom, 36

Cost of feeding, 33

Cost of shipping Shires, 98

Crisp, Mr. F., 63, 70

Cross, Mr. J. P., 81

Crushed oats and bran, 31

D

Dack’s Matchless, 82, 116

Danesfield Stonewall, 114

Details of shows, 60

Development grant, 14

Devonshire, Duke of, 109

Doubtful breeders, 37

Draught horses, 23

Drayman XXIII, 117

Drew, Lawrence, of Merryton, 59

Duncombe, Mr. A. C., 69, 80

Dunsmore Chessie, 81, 105

---- Gloaming, 3, 72

---- Jameson, 80

---- Stud, 80

E

Eadie, Mr. James, 65, 78

Early breeding, 17

Eaton Hall Stud, 109

Eaton Nunsuch, 109

Edgcote Shorthorn Company’s Stud, 108

Effect of war on cost of feeding, 40

Egerton of Tatton, Lord, 2, 77

Ellesmere, Earl of, 2, 7, 70

Elsenham Cup, 18, 79

Elsenham Hall Stud, 119

English cart-horse, 2

Entries at London shows, 61

Everard, Mr. B. N., 118

Ewart, Mr. T., 117

Exercise, 23, 27

Export trade, 92, 95

F

Facts and figures, 61

Fattening horses, 26

Feet, care of, 42

Fillies, breeding from, 17

Flemish horses, 1, 53, 57

Flora, by Lincolnshire Lad, 60

Foals, time for, 31

Foals, treatment of, 32

Foods and feeding, 30

Formation of Shire Horse Society, 13

Forshaw, Mr. James, 80, 116

Foundation stock, 9

Founding a stud, 8

Freeman-Mitford, Mr., now Lord Redesdale, 62

Future outlook, 21

G

Gaer Conqueror, 112

Galbraith, Mr. A., 92

Geldings at the London Show, 64

----, demand for, 15, 24

----, production of, 15

Gilbey, Sir Walter, 2, 14, 51, 54, 119

Girton Charmer, champion in 1905 … 104

Glow, famous mare, 16, 119

Good workers, 23

Gould, Mr. James, 118

Grading up, 8

Grandage, Mr. A., 111

Green, Mr. E., 112

Greenwell, Sir Walpole, 105

Griffin, Mr. F. W., 79

H

Halstead Duchess VII., 107

Halstead Royal Duke, champion in 1909 … 68, 83

Haltering, 28

Hamilton, Duke of, importations, 58

Harold, 60

Hastings, Battle of, 53

Hay, 33

Heath, Mr. R., 85

Henderson’s, Sir Alexander, successes in 1898 … 64

Hendre Champion, 99

Hendre Crown Prince, 70, 99

Hereditary diseases, 76

High prices, 69

Highfield Stud, Leek, 112

History of the Shire, 51

Hitchin Conqueror, London champion, 1891, 62

Honest Tom, 74

Horse, population and the war, 18, 120

Horse-power cheapest, 123

Horses for the army, 6

Horses at Bannockburn, 52

How to show a Shire, 48

Hubbard, Mr. Matthew, 79

Huntingdon, Earl of, importations, 58

I

Importations from Flanders and Holland, 53, 57

Inherited complaints, 10

J

Judges at London Shire Shows, 1890-1915 … 87

K

Keene, Mr. R. H., 117

Keevil, Mr. Clement, 110

King Edward VII., 3, 73, 86, 102

King George, 114

L

Lady Victoria, Lord Wantage’s prize filly, 17

Land suitable, 45

Landlords and Shire breeding, 3, 15

Leading, 28

Lessons in showing, 50

Letting out sires, 14

Lincolnshire Lad 1196 … 59

Linseed meal, 36

Liverpool heavy horses 122

Llangattock, Lord, 5, 77

Local horse breeding societies, 15

Lockinge Cup, 78

Lockinge Forest King, 81

Lockington Beauty, 83

London Show, 61

Longford Hall sale, 3

Lorna Doone, 70, 104

M

McKenna, Mr. C. E., 118

Mackereth, Mr. H., 119

Management, 21, 23

Manger feeding, 33

Maple, Sir J. Blundell, 72

Marden Park Stud, 105

Mares, management of, 17

----, selection of, 8

Markeaton Royal Harold, 17, 60, 65

Marmion, 70

Mating, 20, 22

Members of Shire Horse Society, 63

Menestrel, 111

Michaelis, Mr. Max, 74

Middleton, Lord, 84, 110

Minnehaha, champion mare, 64

Mollington Movement, 106

Muntz, Mr. F. E., 113

Muntz, Sir P. Albert, 5, 72, 80

N

Nellie Blacklegs, 84

Nicholson, Sir Arthur, 74, 112

Norbury Menestrel, 114

Norbury Park Stud, 114

Numbers exported, 96

O

Oats, 33

Old English cart-horse, 2, 13, 51

---- ---- war horse, 1, 50, 57

Origin and progress, 51

Outlook for the breed, 120

Over fattening, 26

P

Pailton Sorais, champion mare, 74, 112

Pedigrees, 8

Pendley Stud, 107

Ploughing, 2, 22, 57

Popular breed, a, 1

Potter, Messrs. J. E. and H. W., 115

Premier, 69, 84

Preparing fillies for mating, 18

Primley Stud, 106

Prince Harold, 77

Prince William, 69, 78

Prizes at Shire shows, 63

Prominent breeders, 103

---- Studs, 102

Prospects of the breed, 121

R

Rearing and feeding, 30

Records, a few, 77

Redlynch Forest King, 113

Registered sires, 13

Rent-paying horses, vi, 11, 124

Repository sales, 5

Rickford Coming King, 85

Rock salt, 35

Rogers, Mr. A. C., 67

Rokeby Harold, champion in 1893 and 1895 … 60, 66, 68

Roman invasion, 51

Rothschild, Lord, 68, 102, 103

Rowell, Mr. John, 69, 95

Russia, 93

S

Sales noted, 4, 76

Salomons, Mr. Leopold, 99

Sandringham Stud, 3, 73, 86

Scawby sale, 63

Select shipment to U.S.A., 102

Selecting the dams, 9

Selection of mares, 8

---- of sires, 12

Separating colts and fillies, 39

Sheds, 35

Shire Horse Society, 2, 13, 91, 93

Shire or war horse, 1, 51

---- sales, 69, 76

Shires for war, 6, 121

---- as draught horses, 1

----, feeding, 30

---- feet, care of, 42

---- for farm work, 1, 22

---- for guns, 6

----, formation of society, 13, 93

----, judges, 81

Shires, London Show, 61

----, management, 12

----, origin and progress of, 51

---- pedigrees kept, 8

----, prices, 69, 76

----, prominent studs, 103

----, sales of, 76

----, showing, 48

----, weight of, 6

----, working, 25

Show condition, 26

Show, London, 60

Showing a Shire, 48

Sires, selection of, 12

Smith-Carington, Mr. H. H., 73

Solace, champion mare, 3

Soils suitable for horse breeding, 45

Soundness, importance of, 9

Spark, 69

Stallions, 12

Starlight, champion mare 1891 … 62, 78

Stern, Sir E., 115

Street, Mr. Frederick, 2

Stroxton Tom, 116

Stud Book, 2, 13, 91

Stud, founding a, 8

Studs, present day, 103

---- sales, 4, 76

Stuffing show animals, 26, 37

Suitable foods and system of feeding, 30

Sutton-Nelthorpe, Mr. R. N., 63, 83

System of feeding, 30

T

Tatton Dray King, 71

---- Herald, 71

Team work, 23

“The Great Horse,” Sir Walter Gilbey’s book, 14, 51, 54

Training for show, 48

---- for work, 27

Treatment of foals, 32

Tring Park Stud, 4, 103

Two-year-old champion stallions, 67

Two-year-old fillies, 17

U

United States, Shires in the, 3, 92

Unsoundness, 10

V

Value of pedigrees, 8

---- of soundness, 10

Veterinary inspection, 62

Vulcan, champion in 1891 … 70, 79

W

Wantage, Lord, 2, 78

War demand, 121

War horse, vi, 51, 91

War and breeding, 18

Warton Draughtsman, 118

Wealthy stud-owners, 14

Weaning time, 33

Weight of Armoured Knight, 51

Weight of Shires, 6

Welshpool Shire Horse Society, 70

Westminster, Duke of, 109

What’s Wanted, 116

Whinnerah, Messrs. E. and J., 118

Whitley, Messrs. W. and H., 106

Williams, Mr. J. G., 107

Wintering, 40

---- foals, 35

Winterstoke, Lord, 86

Work of Shire Horse Society, 13, 60

Working stallions, 25

World’s war, v, 120

Worsley Stud, 7

Y

Yards, 35

THE END

VINTON & COMPANY, LTD., 8, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON, E.C.