Shire Horse

Shire horse is often called draught horse or draft horse and is usually seen in black, bay or grey. The shire draft horse is a native British breed of the central section of Europe. They are the descendants of the English great horse that was primitively used to carry soldiers with full war armour to the battlefields that could weigh up to 400 pounds. Thus shire horses are known for their capacity to carry great weights and therefore have held several world records including the Guinness book of world record as the biggest and the tallest horses. They were often used for farm work, for towing flat bottom shoal draft boats at the time when the English canal water system was the only major way of transporting goods and as a cart-horse for road transport in the olden days. It was traditionally used to pull the brewer’s trolly to deliver beers and is still seldomly used for the same and others were used in forestry, for riding and majorly for commercial purposes for its magnificence, height and strength. 

Even though the origin of the shire horses lies in a much earlier period, but the shire breed that is seen today was established in the mid 18th century. In the latter part of the 18th century, the shire breed was modified to draft and farm horses by breeding the mares from Holland with the English stallions. In the year 1876, the first breed society was established and in the year 1878, the first breed registry that is also referred to as a herd book was published. The population of shire has increased massively in Europe in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Therefore many shires were exported to the United States. With the adaption of progressive agriculture methods, the demand for the shire draft horses started decreasing rapidly from the year 1960s. The numbers have suddenly fallen from millions to few thousand. Though there is still a demand for shire horses in the market that has increased again from the 1970s, it is still declared “at-risk” by rare breed survival trust.  

(Image will be uploaded soon) 

Image: Illustration of a black shire horse 

History of a Shire Horse

In the mid 17th and early 18th centuries, the term “shire hire” came into existence. They are believed to be the direct descendants of Packington blind horses which are native Leicestershire. The descendants of the best-known horse of its era have been recorded in the years 1770 to 1832. The Packington blind horse is considered and recognized as the foundation stallion for the establishment of the new shire horse breed that is known today. During the 19th century, the shire horses were extensively used for cart pulling for transportation of goods from the docks to the cities as well as countrysides. Because of the rough roads, some strong, tall and masculine horses were required. 

In 1853, the first shire horse was imported by the United States and thereafter, a huge number of the horse breed was imported in the 1880s. To register the imported horses as well for its promotion, the first breed society was established in the year 1885 in the United States. As the popularity of the shire horses increased in the United States with the registration of almost 4000 shire horses imported between 1900 to 1918. Almost 6700 shire horses were registered with the American Association between 1909 to 1911. 

With the establishment of the improved mechanisms and strict regulations imposed by many countries on the exchange of horses and other livestock during the second world war, there was a sudden decrease in the demand for horses. With the closing of several big breeding houses, many horses were slaughtered and the numbers came down to a few 100s. The overall population density of the breed touched its lowest in the 1950s to 1960s. In the year 1955, only 100 shire horses participated in the British Spring Show.

Throughout the 1970s, with the reviving interest of the people for this breed, a rise in their number was witnessed with many breeding societies established worldwide especially in England, United States, Netherland, Canada, France and Germany. In 1996, Peterborough held the world’s first-ever shire horse congress. In the year 1997, several Australian mares’ siemens were frozen to initiate artificial insemination within the breed.  Between the 1920s and 1930s and even today, the equine conformation of the shire horses underwent notable changes. It is because the shire horses were crossbred with Clydesdales in the years 1950 and 1960, that even resulted in the alteration of their leg feathering that went from rough and uneven leg hairs to silky and shiny feathering that are seen today. 

Though during its peak, the population of shire horses were in millions, in the early to late 19th century, their numbers dropped to a few thousand. Even in the 1960s, a total of 25 shire horses were registered in the United States horse association. At the start of the 20th century, the United States saw a massive drop in the population density of these horses. Today the conservation status of this breed is “at-risk” declared by the Rare Breed Survival Trust with the total population count being under 1500 heads. The Livestock Conservancy of the United States has declared this species as “critical” whereas the Equus Survival trust declared it “vulnerable”. 

Characteristics 

Physical Characteristics:

Shire horses are the tallest and largest horses considered total that stands at an average of 64 inches (16hands) to 72 inches (18hands) height. The average height of a grown stallion to its withers is around 178cms and the least height measured is 173cms. The height of a mare is not less than 163cms and that of a castrated mare known as gelding measured at least 168cms. In this breed, the female horse (stallion) is generally taller than that of the male horse ( mare). The average weight of the typical breed is around 1800 to 2400 pounds. The average weight of the stallions and geldings is measured around 850 to 1100 kgs and there is no standard weight range for mares. The head of the breed is long and lean with two big eyes. The head is set on the neck that is little arched and long proportional to the body. Their chest and shoulders are wide and deep with a small back but very masculine. They have hindquarters that are short and lean with not much feathering on the legs. However, their neck hair, tail and other body hairs are straight, fine, soft and silky in texture. 

Unique Characteristics of the Breed:

The shires are known for their enormous capacity to carry weights. At a British exhibition in 1924, a pair of shire horses pulled a load that was approximated around 50 tonnes and this could be even more as the exact weight could not be measured as it exceeded the maximum weight limit of the dynamometer that was used there. In the slippery footing, the same pair of horses have pulled a weight that was approximately weighed around 18.5 tonnes at a later exhibition.

They are also known for their easy-going temperament. Even after being strongest and tallest, they are quite docile in nature and can be easily domesticated and trained. The biggest shire horse that was a mare recorded in history was named Mammoth (also known as Sampson). It was born in 1848 and stood at a height of 219cm (21.2 hands) tall and its maximum weight reached around 1524 kg (3360 lb). 

Colour and Markings:

The shire horses are commonly found in black, bay, grey or brown coloured. According to the U.K. breed standards, the chestnut colour is not considered a shire breed. While some of the horses belonging to the shire breed have a white facial colour and white featherings on legs but too much white texture is not desirable according to the breeding standards.   

Common Health Problems and Care

They are very docile and calm in nature with agreeable attitudes. They have an easy-going temperament and therefore it is very easy to be trained as well as domesticated. They are generally a healthy species but a very common disease known as chronic progressive lymphedema that results in the swallowing of the lower part of the legs of shire horses is very common. The progression of these symptoms leads to hyperkeratosis, fibrosis as well as distal limbs. But these symptoms could be deduced by good management and providing medical attention to the breed at the right time through polysaccharides storage. Myopathy is very rarely seen in this particular breed but some of them may experience cramps, leg stiffness as well as spasms. 

Diet and Nutritional Care:

Shire horses have a normal diet like any other breed of horses that includes good quality grains, vegetables, fruits and hay. But the quantity of the food, as well as water that they require, is much higher as compared to the regular breed of horses in order to maintain healthy body weight. In the case of polysaccharides storage myopathy experienced by some of the shire horses, the doctors recommend high-fat diets in order to ward off the storage. Their overall essential nutrients consist of water, fats and carbohydrates, proteins as well as vitamins. Shire horse breeds need an average of 54 litres of water per day that is fresh and free of any contaminations. In colder conditions, breeds need warmer water with 2 to 3 tablespoons of salt in order to keep the horse well-hydrated throughout the day. 

A heavy horse diet should always consist of a good quality of forage to encourage optimum digestive health. They often need 3 to 4 feeds at an interval of 4 to 5 hours in a day depending upon the kind of physical labour they are putting in. So a shire can be fed oats, pallets, carrots and apples to fulfil its fibre as well as vitamin needs along with good quality hay as dried grass or poor-quality hay builds up colic pain in their stomach. The ideal season for them is the spring and summer where they get an abundance of fresh green grasses and herbage to stay healthy all year round. 

Grooming Care:

The grooming starts with the head. It is necessary to clean their eyes as well as eyelids with a sponge and then dry them up with a clean dry towel and then clean the inside of the earlids if required. Then cleaning of the face is very essential for a well-groomed look of the horse that might take ten to fifteen minutes on average. The cleaning of the face is often done with a soft fine brush using upward movement and the brush is just kept to sweep up the face and lasts for years. But the brush that is used for sweeping the whole body needs to be changed after every two months. Sometimes if the horse is being prepared for a show then a rubber curry comb is always helpful to remove the scurf. 

The feet and lower leg need to be washed and the feathering on the legs need to be groomed every day that includes cleaning and brushing the hair in order to keep it free from any infection or irritation. It is very important to completely dry out the featherings after a bath to keep away any fungal or bacterial growth on them. It has also been a tradition to treat the lower limb of the feathering horse with oil once a year. A wide variety of oil is used for the same starting with pig oil, some white oil mixed with flowers and sulfur in a certain ratio and at one point of time left tractor oil was also used though now it is declared unsuitable for tier skin. The mane and tail need to be brushed regularly. The entire grooming and cleaning of the horse take about two hours on an average each day and often the pet owners or groomers need a ladder or stool to reach their full height.  

Breeding and Uses

The shire horses were particularly bred in older days to work in the field for agricultural purposes like ploughing the field, carrying goods from the docks to the countryside as well as to the cities as well as for common transportation. They used to pull the carriages and the brewery’s trolly to various locations. They were also traded and groomed for Britain’s spring shows. In the primitive era, they were bred to serve the royals during wars where they used to carry soldiers fully armoured with heavy metal shields that could weigh up to 400 pounds. 

Since 900 AD, white shire horses have been present in the United Kingdom. They are the most majestic gentle natured animal that has served many roles in the country. Until the 20th century, they were primarily used in the fields for ploughing the fields and timbering and so forth but with the advancement of technology their demand for that particular role declined. Though they were never considered as the carriage horses, till today they breed to pull the prestigious Lord Mayor’s coach in the national parade. 

They are still bred and taken care of in many shire horse centres for the visitors to enjoy the horse pulling carriage, sightseeing as well as riding such friendly and docile natured horses. They are still environmentally friendly options for tractors in small farms. They are still used for logging purposes many times. They have been the centre of the promotions of many beer breweries and some of them have again started to deliver the beers by horse wagon to maintain the tradition and gain popularity and massive promotion.   

Shire Horse Price and Records

Shire horses are very rare these days and are difficult to find though there are many well-recognized shire horse centres all over Europe that breed as well as groom the horses. But most of them promote adoption but they are also sold at varied shire horse prices that may range from $2000 to $20,000 depending upon their characteristics, age and level of training as these shire horse centres are also responsible to train these horses in a certain way so that they can as well be domesticated. It is not always possible for the commoners to adopt or buy such horses for such extensive shire horse price and expensive grooming. Thus they are mostly adopted by the royalties or the riches as a mark of being wealthy.

Some of the world record holders are Big Jake as the tallest living shire in the year 2013 in the Guinness book of world record. It was 6 feet 11 inches tall and weighed about 2600 pounds. In the year 2003, the tallest living horse was named Goliath that stood 6 feet 5 inches tall but the record was broken by a stable-mare named Radar whose height was almost 6 feet and 7.5 inches. In 2007 a shire stallion named Tina broke the record by standing 6 feet 8 inches tall who then died in 2008. The first tallest shire known today was named Samson which stood at about7 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 3300 pounds in the 1980s.

Interesting Facts About Sheer Horses

1. Shire horses were considered the first breed to transport brewers from the breweries to the public houses.

2. They are the tallest breed known so far with maximum record-holding.

3. They are known to pull up to 45 tonnes of weight.

4. They are very docile and cool-tempered despite their high built structure.

5. There are less than 1500 shire horses today worldwide.

6. As recreational horses, it commands top dollars. Usually, a stallion shire horse price for a single advertisement or promotion costs around $1000.

7. Their names are a reflection of where they are originated

8. They come in a variety of colours apart from the known ones that have been considered under the permissible code.