THE SHIRE HORSE

II  ENGLISH REGISTRY:  PART TWO

     Before we move on to another subject, I believe it would be in order to explore, at least to a small degree, the Clydesdale/Shire connection up to the time the Stud Books were developed.  England and Scotland both share a small island as does Wales.  Some hard feelings have existed between the two countries for hundreds of years yet they have a great many things in common.  The need for a similar type of horse power was one such need.  English horses traveled north for centuries as did horses from other European countries.  So the early Scottish horse was very much like the Shire which we described in Part I, but they also share many of the same bloodlines.  Many of the Robert Bakewell's horses went north in the 1700's.   In the early 1800's, the Scotsmen moved toward a good moving, active type horse and thus chose horses that possessed those qualities, both from England and within their own breeding operations.  Lawrence Drew was a Scotsman with horse abilities only surpassed by Robert Bakewell.  Like Bakewell, he had a good eye and a sense of breeding savvy.  Nearly 100 years separated their influence on the draft horse, yet their ideas and abilities were remarkably similar.  Drew had a profound influence on the Clydesdale horse, yet, as we already know from Chapter I, he was not a supporter of breed registries.  Many good English (Shire) horses were taken north to Scotland by Drew that fit the characteristic sought after by the Scotsmen.  Drew's abilities as a breeder and horsemen were especially revered by his fellow northern countrymen as well as the English.  It was Drew who owned and stood the stallion, Prince of Wales, which we referred to in Chapter I.  The point to this story is simple; both breeds possess a common ancestry and both breeds developed a registry within months of each other.   Drew receives credit for much of the foundation stock in the Clydesdale breed, yet believed there should be only one registry and never supported the Clydesdale movement.   In order to maintain records and promote his beliefs, he established a select Clydesdale registry in 1883, which fell apart upon his death in 1884.  It was ironic that Mr. Drew provided the very foundation of the Clydesdale horse yet failed to support the Clydesdale registry movement.  Drew's influence on the Shire was equally profound.
     This article is not intended as a story telling forum, however, one story that does appear in Mr. Chiver's book is worth telling both from a interest point of view and also has historical value.
     Drew made frequent visits into England to buy horses from England's best to transfer back to is own farm in Scotland as well for other Scottish breeders.  On one such trip, as he traveled by rail coach, he peered out the window and saw a farmer plowing with some fine mares.  At the next stop he got off the train and traveled back to the farmers field.  This type of keen eye and horse knowledge was not unusual for Drew.  Upon arriving at the farm, the farmer refused to sell only the best and insisted that he take all or none.  He took the lot as well as the stallion that had fathered most of them.  This stallion was a lean brown-bay horse "K", "Lincoln Shire Lad" or "Honest Tom". (Don't confuse him with Honest Tom [1105].)  This horse was the same age as Prince of Wales.  Drew did not immediately ship the stallion north with the mares, but rather, kept him in England and covered the Derbyshire mare "Madam".  The horse later moved north and along with his stable mate Prince of Wales, referred to in Chapter I, provided the true foundation of the Clydesdale breed.  In Chiver's book, he devotes an entire chapter on how nearly all Shires of today can trace their pedigree back to the stallion Harold [3703] born in 1881.  He is pictured in Chapter I and is a son of Lincolnshire Lad II [1365], also pictured in Chapter I. 
     Remember the mating of Lincolnshire Lad and the Derbyshire mare Madam before the stallion left for Scotland.  The result of that mating was Linconshire Lad II.  Equally important to remember, it was a group of mares by the old horse that caught Draws eye in the first place.  Lincolnshire Lad II's picture is followed by a disclaimer regarding the picture, but it also infers to a less than ideal appraisal of the horse.  I have no idea who wrote the comments, but I submit he or his father wouldn't have been the father of two breeds by accident.  The horse was 17-hands tall but seemed taller because of his narrowness.  He had a lot of feather with good flat bone and plenty of joint (length and slope of pastern) and a distinctive head.  It is said that his progeny is a textbook example of genetics at its best.   The horse had, and passed on, those attributes that were truly important and good.   His weaknesses were soon lost. 
     In the early 1970's, Keith Chivers was contacted by the Shire Horse Society to research and develop the history of the Shire horse.  After years of work it was completed.  The book is 800 pages in length and truly fascinating reading for the true Shire enthusiast.  Much of Chapters I and II of this series come from that work.  I would encourage you to buy and read the book.
     In Chapter III we will take up the US registry.

Halstead Royal Duke, London Champion in 1909,
when Lord Rothschild won both championships.

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