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.