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Place of origin:
England
Aptitudes: Heavy draft and farm work. Qualities: Strong, with good endurance. Temperament: Docile and good natured. |
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| Conformation: The Shire horse generally stand 16.1-17.3 hands at the withers and weighs 800-1 000 kg. The coat may be bay, brown, chestnut or grey, with frequent white markings. The head is small in relation to the body size, with pronounced jaw, a rather convex profile, a broad forhead, long ears, and large prominent eyes. The neck is quite long, arched and muscular; the withers are fairly wide and continue the line of the neck, the back short, the croup sloping but not too powerful, the chest broad and muscular, the shoulder long and sloping. The legs are rather short, well-muscled and feathered below the knee and the hock, the joints are broad, the cannons fairly long, the pasterns short, and the foot sound. |
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History: This breed is said to be descended from the Great Horse, the medieval charger used for jousting, which derived from the most powerful draft horses in northern Europe, with some contributions of Oriental blood. The Stud Book for the breed was established in 1878. It was used as a carriage horse, then in agriculture and for drawing omnibuses. It is the world's tallest horse, in some cases reaching a height of 19 hands and a weight of 1 200 kg. The breed went into a decline in the nineteen-fifties, but since the centenary of the foundation of the stud book it has experienced a revival. |
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Interresting Information:
The most efficient size of a draft animal is 1600 pounds. It has been proven
on the treadmill and respirator tests where they measured every calorie and the
oxygen going in and the output of energy and waste.
The 1600 pound horse has the ability to exert 200 pounds of tractive force for 10 hours with the ability to give brief moments of 2400 pounds. A ton horse can do only 220 pounds for 10 hours but has the overload ability of 3000 pounds momentarily (this is why they are preferred for starting heavy loads as in breaking logs loose). The 1200 pound horse has the ability to exert 180 pounds of tractive force for 10 hours but has only 1800 pound maximum pull. Also, at this weight, he does not have enough weight to give him enough traction to transfer that power as easily. With the use of multiple hitches, farmers were able to get the power they needed. And in these big hitches, you could find horses of all sizes. With a normal loading, the smaller ones would wear out the larger on flat or even ground. On a long hill, the biggest had it easier. Another point is that you can put the harness on six 15-16 hand horses in less time than two of those 18+. |
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