CHAPTER IX

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE SHIRE

It is evident that a breed of comparatively heavy horses existed in Britain at the time of the Roman Invasion, when Queen Boadicea’s warriors met Cæsar’s fighting men (who were on foot) in war chariots drawn by active but powerful horses, remarkable--as Sir Walter Gilbey’s book on “The Great Horse” says--for “strength, substance, courage and docility.”

These characteristics have been retained and improved upon all down the ages since. The chariot with its knives, or blades, to mow down the enemy was superseded by regiments of cavalry, the animals ridden being the Old English type of War Horse. In those days it was the lighter or second-rate animals, what we may call “the culls,” which were left for agricultural purposes. The English knight, when clad in armour, weighed something like 4 cwt., therefore a weedy animal would have sunk under such a burden.

This evidently forced the early breeders to avoid long backs by breeding from strong-loined, deep-ribbed and well coupled animals, seeing that slackness meant weakness and, therefore, worthlessness for war purposes.

It is easy to understand that a long-backed, light-middled mount with a weight of 4 cwt. on his back would simply double up when stopped suddenly by the rider to swing his battle axe at the head of his antagonist, so we find from pictures and plates that the War Horse of those far-off days was wide and muscular in his build, very full in his thighs, while the saddle in use reached almost from the withers to the hips, thus proving that the back was short.

There came a time, however, when speed and mobility were preferred to mere weight. The knight cast away his armour and selected a lighter and fleeter mount than the War Horse of the ancient Britons.

The change was, perhaps, began at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. It is recorded that Robert Bruce rode a “palfrey” in that battle, on which he dodged the charges of the ponderous English knights, and he took a very heavy toll, not only of English warriors but of their massive horses; therefore it is not unreasonable to suppose that some of the latter were used for breeding purposes, and thus helped to build up the Scottish, or Clydesdale, breed of heavy horses; but what was England’s loss became Scotland’s gain, in that the Clydesdale breed had a class devoted to it at the Highland Society’s Show in 1823, whereas his English relative, “the Shire,” did not receive recognition by the Royal Agricultural Society of England till 1883, sixty years later. As a War Horse the British breed known as “The Great Horse” seems to have been at its best between the Norman Conquest, 1066, and the date of Bannockburn above-mentioned, owing to the fact that the Norman nobles, who came over with William the Conqueror, fought on horseback, whereas the Britons of old used to dismount out of their chariots, and fight on foot. The Battle of Hastings was waged between Harold’s English Army of infantry-men and William the Conqueror’s Army of horsemen, ending in a victory for the latter.

The Flemish horses thus became known to English horse breeders, and they were certainly used to help lay the foundation of the Old English breed of cart horses.

It is clear that horses with substance were used for drawing chariots at the Roman invasion in the year 55 B.C., but no great development in horse-breeding took place in England till the Normans proved that warriors could fight more effectively on horseback than on foot. After this the noblemen of England appear to have set store by their horses, consequently the twelfth and thirteenth centuries may be regarded as the age in which Britain’s breed of heavy horses became firmly established.

In Sir Walter Gilbey’s book is a quotation showing that “Cart Horses fit for the dray, the plough, or the chariot” were on sale at Smithfield (London) every Friday, the extract being made from a book written about 1154, and from the same source we learn that during the reign of King John, 1199-1216, a hundred stallions “of large stature” were imported from the low countries--Flanders and Holland.

Passing from this large importation to the time of the famous Robert Bakewell of Dishley (1726-1795), we find that he too went to Flanders for stock to improve his cart horses, but instead of returning with stallions he bought mares, which he mated with his stallions, these being of the old black breed peculiar--in those days--to Leicestershire. There is no doubt that the interest taken by this great breed improver in the Old English type of cart horse had an effect far more important than it did in the case of the Longhorn breed of cattle, seeing that this has long lost its popularity, whereas that of the Shire horse has been growing and widening from that day to this.

Bakewell was the first English stockbreeder to let his stud animals for the season, and although his greatest success was achieved with the Dishley or “New Leicester” sheep, he also carried on the system with Longhorn bulls and his cart horses, which were described as “Bakewell’s Blacks.”

That his horses had a reputation is proved by the fact that in 1785 he had the honour of exhibiting a black horse before King George III. at St. James’s Palace, but another horse named “K,” said by Marshall to have died in that same year, 1785, at the age of nineteen years, was described by the writer just quoted as a better animal than that inspected by His Majesty the King. From the description given he appears to have had a commanding forehand and to have carried his head so high that his ears stood perpendicularly over his fore feet, as Bakewell held that the head of a cart horse should. It can hardly be questioned that he was a believer in weight, seeing that his horses were “thick and short in body, on very short legs.”

The highest price he is credited with getting for the hire of a stallion for a season is 150 guineas, while the service fee at home is said to have been five guineas, which looks a small amount compared with the 800 guineas obtained for the use of his ram “Two Pounder” for a season.

What is of more importance to Shire horse breeders, however, is the fact that Robert Bakewell not only improved and popularized the Shire horse of his day, but he instituted the system of letting out sires for the season, which has been the means of placing good sires before farmers, thus enabling them to assist in the improvement which has made such strides since the formation of the Shire Horse Society in 1878.

It is worth while to note that Bakewell’s horses were said to be “perfectly gentle, willing workers, and of great power.” He held that bad pullers were made so by bad management. He used two in front of a Rotherham plough, the quantity ploughed being “four acres a day.” Surely a splendid advertisement for the Shire as a plough horse.

FLEMISH BLOOD

In view of the fact that Flanders has been very much in the public eye for the past few months owing to its having been converted into a vast battlefield, it is interesting to remember that we English farmers of to-day owe at least something of the size, substance and soundness of our Shire horses to the Flemish horse breeders of bygone days. Bakewell is known to have obtained marvellous results among his cattle and sheep by means of in-breeding, therefore we may assume that he would not have gone to the Continent for an outcross for his horses unless he regarded such a step beneficial to the breed.

It is recorded by George Culley that a certain Earl of Huntingdon had returned from the Low Countries--where he had been Ambassador--with a set of black coach horses, mostly stallions. These were used by the Trentside farmers, and without a doubt so impressed Bakewell as to induce him to pay a visit to the country whence they came.

If we turn from the history of the Shire to that of the Clydesdale it will be found that the imported Flemish stallions are credited by the most eminent authorities, with adding size to the North British breed of draught horses.

The Dukes of Hamilton were conspicuous for their interest in horse breeding. One was said to have imported six black Flemish stallions--to cross with the native mares--towards the close of the seventeenth century, while the sixth duke, who died in 1758, imported one, which he named “Clyde.”

This is notable, because it proves that both the English and Scotch breeds have obtained size from the very country now devastated by war.

It may be here mentioned that one of the greatest lovers and breeders of heavy horses during the nineteenth century was schooled on the Duke of Hamilton’s estate, and he was eminently successful in blending the Shire and Clydesdale breeds to produce prizewinners and sires which have done much towards building up the modern Clydesdale.

This was Mr. Lawrence Drew, of Merryton, who, like Mr. Robert Bakewell, had the distinction of exhibiting a stallion (named Prince of Wales) before Royalty.

It is well known that he (Mr. Drew) bought many Shires in the Midland Counties of England. So keen was his judgment that he would “spot a winner” from a railway carriage, and has been known to alight at the next station and make the journey back to the farm where he saw the likely animal.

On at least one occasion the farmer would not sell the best by itself, so the enthusiast bought the whole team, which he had seen at plough from the carriage window on the railway.

Quite the most celebrated Shire stallion purchased by Mr. Drew in England was Lincolnshire Lad 1196, who died in his possession in 1878. This horse won several prizes in Derbyshire before going north, and he also begot Lincolnshire Lad II. 1365, the sire of Harold 3703, Champion of the London Show of 1887, who in turn begot Rokeby Harold (Champion in London as a yearling, a three-year-old and a four-year-old), Markeaton Royal Harold, the Champion of 1897, and of Queen of the Shires, the Champion mare of the same year, 1897, and numerous other celebrities. A great mare, bought by Mr. Drew in Derbyshire, was Flora, by Lincolnshire Lad, who became the dam of Pandora, a great winner, and the dam of Prince of Clay, Handsome Prince, and Pandora’s Prince, all of which were Clydesdale stallions and stock-getters of the first rank.

There is evidence to show that heavy horses from other countries than Flanders were imported, but this much is perfectly clear, that the Flemish breed was selected to impart size, therefore, if we give honour where it is due, these “big and handsome” black stallions that we read of deserve credit for helping to build up the breed of draught horses in Britain, which is universally known as the Shire, its distinguishing feature being that it is the heaviest breed in existence.