Horses: The Shire from Great Britain to Tuscia.
The Shire horse, originally from Great Britain, is a very old, cold-blooded, brachymorphic crossbreed. Little known in Italy, it is selected for medium-heavy shooting thanks to its indifference to effort and fatigue. It also lends itself well to simple riding, with English saddle but, given its size, it is not suitable for more complex disciplines such as jumping and dressage. Although the standard of the Shire breed is around 173 cm at the withers for males and 163 cm. for females, this horse can easily reach 2 meters at the withers.
The Shire's head is long and thin, with large eyes and a slightly arched nose, set on a relatively long neck. The shoulders are deep and oblique, wide enough to carry the collar; the chest not too wide is in proportion to the legs, the muscular back is short and the hind legs are long; the lower back is high.
The color of the Shire's coat can vary from black to bay to gray for stallions, which do not have to be saurians or roans, unlike females and geldings for which the latter coat color is allowed. White markings on the body are also allowed. The legs are harmonious, hard, muscular; the measure of the shin is 28-30 cm.
The feet must be open and very rounded at the top of the crown, with very long pastorals. A Shire foot has an average circumference of 16/18 cm; the shoes for him are of the number 8/9 compared to the number 4/5 of a "normal" horse which, generally, measures 10-12 cm. The lower part of the legs has abundant but smooth and silky bow.
The Shire is a resistant animal, with a docile and meek temperament. He can easily start working from the age of three. It is capable of towing carriages and agricultural machinery thanks to its colossal strength and size. They are among the most expensive draft horses: the price ranges from 5.000 to 30.000 euros for a stallion, but a lot depends on the genealogy of the subject.
Already Julius Caesar in his work De bello Gallico makes some references to the Equus Magnus, a type of large black horse, used by the barbarian populations of northern Europe. Today, the Shires have the honor of pulling the carriage of the Queen of England.
The valley of the Shire is located in Tuscia
"Going around horse fairs and animal markets, one day I had the desire to buy myself a big and powerful horse and I began to take an interest in this magnificent and powerful breed". To tell is a horse breeder from Bagnaia (VT). "One day two years ago, a horse salesman tells me that they have just unloaded a tall, big horse, a little badly reduced ... I go and into the corner of a box, with my head almost touching the ground, in feet barely, I see what looks like a horse's skeleton. I bargained the price, with the proviso that if that horse didn't survive, I would get the money back. The next morning, Slipper (in English it means slipper, because he could not even raise his hooves to walk!) Arrives home and begins a new life for him, made of energy feed, tonic, vitamins, lots of grass and hay of the best quality. and, above all, a lot of love and patience. A few months ago I think that Slipper should have an heir who continues his genealogy and, therefore, it is necessary to find a suitable female. This is how a Shire kennel was born in the Viterbo area ".