The Shire Horse

The creating of these horses is attributed to Oliver Cromwell and the term ‘blacks’ was probably used to describe the imported Friesians, which only come in the colour black. The main breeding grounds of the English Black were the Fen country and the Midland shires of Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

It was from all the ‘shires’ that the breed eventually took its name. In the early days of the Shires' breeding, the horses showed regional differences. The horses bred in the Fens tended to be bigger, heavier and rougher than the horses that came from all the ‘shires’. Even among the ‘shire’ horses, there were differences. The ones from Derbyshire and Leicestershire were mainly black, while the horses from Staffordshire were generally brown.

Only in the late ninetieth century did the breeding of the Shires become formalized, following the publication of the first stud book. In 1878 a breed society called the Old English Carthorse Society was set up. Its name was changed in 1884 to the Shire Horse Society. From then on, the horse was known as the Shire.

After the breed society, the Shire just went from strength to strength, competing in the leading agricultural shows of the time and attracting a huge amount of attention from foreign buyers. Soon, Shires were being exported as far away as North America, South America, Russia and Australia. They also became a vital part of everyday life in Great Britain.

The Shire horse has the great qualities of strength, stamina, soundness and amazing temperament. They are gentle giants and can be seen ploughing the land, hauling timber and pulling things such as farm wagons, railway vans, brewers’ drays and coal carts.

Although, like with all breeds, mechanization took its usual toll, a Shire ‘revival’ began in the 1960s and you can still see them working on farms, at shows and pulling brewers’ drays in cities. Shire horses stand at about 16.2 to 17.2 hands if they are a stallion and 16 to 17 hands if they are a mare. They come in the colours of black, brown, bay and grey.