COUNTRY LIFE
The Shire
In spite of tractors, in spite of modern critics, the old English shire, whose excellent show attracted Londoners this week, keeps his ancient place. Foreign critics say his back is too hollow and the " feathers "—so proudly combed and saw- dusted by the horsekeeper—are merely dirt-holders. Some say the horse is clumsy. The truth is that the shire, in spite of his size, is extremely neat—see him side-step at the top of a furrow—and that the feathers are definitely correlated with firm feet and plenty of bone. They may be correlated with brain, for the shire (in spite of Miss Frances Pitt) is clever. As a Fen labourer said to me, proudly pointing to the shire, " He can a'most talk." They are aristocrats, springing directly from the old war-horse whose true breeding interested Edward III and, more effectively, Henry VIII. If the foot is the true test, the shire excels by a great deal the Percheron, which is popular in America ; and he has definite points of superiority over the Suffolk Punch in the eyes of. many farmers. There is room for all the breeds ; but the shire has suffered from so much superficial criticism that its virtues are in some need of emphasis. The breed is very English, and as such its peculiar virtues are often not un- derstood by those unused to its specialities of contour.
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