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Shire Information
Shire
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Riding Breed
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| Working Breed |
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| Sport Breed |
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| Show Breed |
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| Pony Breed |
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| Easily Trained |
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| Independant |
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| All Climates |
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| All Terrain |
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Shire Qualities
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The Shire horses can be used for harness work,
agriculture, and for riding purposes. They can be found in Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales,
and France. In all, the breed is better known in the lands of Nottingham, Derbyshire,
Lincolnshire, and Leicestershire. They are a well known coach horse, and in England the many
British breweries once depended heavily on the Shire horses as a form of transportation to get
their supplies back and forth.
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Shire Temperament
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The Shire horses have a very kind and gentle temperament. They can be very
popular working with children as their personalities can lead them to aid in learning
how to ride a horse effectively and quickly. The more patient the horse is, the better off
a child can learn, a quality this breed embodies.
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Shire Appearance
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The Shire horses stand at around seventeen hands at full grown size.
They are bred in black, brown, and bay. They bode a lean head, longer necks, clean and
lean legs, a long back loaded with muscle, wider shoulders, and open feet. Their backs
are not noted as being dipped or roached for a horse their size. The breed is popular
for their excellent amount of muscle, an accent that owners have made full use of.
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Shire Upkeep
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The Shire is a very simple breed to care for. They can easily be
left alone, which makes tending to them a cinch. They can also find their own food
and shelter when needed.
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Shire History
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The Shire horses came from the Midlands in England. They are
based on the series of great horses brought to the land by a man named William
the Conqueror sometime in 1066. This breed is without a doubt the longest style
of horses that has ever been derived from England. They were bigger than the
average breed in this area and also had a strong influence on the common breed,
the Black Horse. Shires are considered dull in their fur coats, and some would
even say in their personas. Then, during the eighteen hundreds, a man named
Robert Bakewell came along and decided to breed the horses. As a result, a new
style called the Bakewell Black variation was formed. Their studbook was
created in the late eighteen hundreds and they went on to change the new name
to the “English Cart Horse”, which was due to some finding it insulting for the
horse to bode the title with the word ‘black’ in it. They were changed to a
Shire horse style in 1885 and continued to be extremely popular. They went for
a significant amount of money, these new shire styled horses, during The Great
Depression.
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Shire Photos
Shire Videos
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