Shire horse

...

Shire horses are capable of pulling double-

Princy

... their body weight, and could easily wrench a farmer's arm from its socket.

So I'll just hang this up in the cottage now.

And as long as we keep the flies off it, it should be pretty good.

[footsteps crunching] For the last few weeks, Alex and Peter have been practicing driving the two Shires, Prince and Tom, together.

Come on.

Oh.

That was the one with the Shire horse, do you remember, and the Icelandic?

I do.

Yeah.

Um, there was, um...

I'm not quite sure about Ludde, but it was a, some kind of warm-blooded story, a red horse, and he was really uncomfortable around other horses.

And, um, you let him into the arena with a lot of other horses, and among those horses was a six-year-old Shire horse, a huge beast of a horse.

It was really, really huge, uh, like Shire horses often are, and there was a tiny little Icelandic.

Like they're there every year supporting the finals and like I had mentioned before, I mean, they're, they're always presented to the top notch to the T and those guys just love being a part of it.

And, uh, and let's, let's, you know, we can talk a little bit about the Shire breed there, then also let's just look at the Percherons, you know, the mares and, you know, Rolling Hills Tiffany, you know, won the Indiana State Fair.

Uh, you know, BP Highlight a, a stud that Gerald and Melissa Alibock just recently bought from Ryan Burger.

He's been having a great year.

Um, kinda, kinda tell us, just kinda go through the Shire, the Percheron breed and kinda see what, just talk about what you see there, um, on the qualifiers.

Go ahead, Aaron.

Well, I didn't s- get to see many of, uh, of the Shires, so I don't have a lot on them this year, but I do d- for the Percherons I seen 'em at Wilmington and, uh, and Ohio.

Uh, yeah, I s- I thought, uh, I do remember, uh, the one that Gerald bought from Burger.

and also Irish Thunder Celtic Quincy, owned by Glencoe Galkantry Clydesdales as well.

The Shires in this year's qualifiers, Highline Unique, owned by Highline Farm, Hercules Lady Stark, owned by Highline Farm, and also Ozarks Royal Osvaldo, owned by Highline Farm as well.

The Belgians, we have a lineup of mares, Millerview Juliet, owned by Millerview Belgians, Millerview's Nancy, owned by Millerview Belgians, Maple Grove Electra, owned by Millerview Belgians, also Millerview's Cane, the Stallion, owned by Millerview Belgians, and then the Gelding Hiddenview Prestige, owned by Triple F Farms.

That's your lineup guys.

Yep.

And that's what's going to be interesting.

And let's talk about the Shires here.

Unfortunately...

They became widely known in the United States through their association with a beer company's advertising campaigns beginning in the nineteen thirties.

The Shire horse, another massive draft breed from England, holds records for the tallest and heaviest horses ever documented.

A Shire stallion named Sampson, later renamed Mammoth, stood twenty-one point two hands tall and weighed an estimated three thousand three hundred and sixty pounds.

Draft horses were essential to agriculture before the invention of the tractor.

A single team of heavy horses could plow several acres in a day, a task that would take a person with a hand plow much longer.

Cold bloods are the heavy, draft-type breeds developed for pulling and carrying loads.

They tend to be calm, patient, and strong.

The Clydesdale, Shire, Percheron, and Belgian are all cold blood breeds.