It's Friday, I'm a Judge! Breed: Shire

Happy Friday everyone! We're back for another breed judging clinic. 

As always, my personal judging history and credentials can be found on my About Me page.

This week, we're looking at a Shire class. Before we look at our entries, let's refresh our memory of what a Shire should look like: 

• Accepted colors: Black, brown, bay, gray. Roans acceptable in mares and geldings but not stallions. White patches on the body are not acceptable.
• Mares should have a more feminine appearance.
• Long and lean head, with long slightly arched neck in proportion to the body. Large, well set and docile eyes, and slightly Roman nose. Deep shoulders, short and muscular back. 
• Forelegs straight as possible down to pasterns, hocks not too far back and in line with hindquarters. Round, deep and well-sprung ribs. 

Breed standard courtesy the Shire Horse Society https://www.shire-horse.org.uk/breeding-shire-horses

Let's take a look at our class!

Shire gelding

Horse A: Shannondell

Shire mare

Horse B: Clydesdale Mare

Shire stallion

Horse C: Othello

Think about your ABCs - anatomy, biomechanics, and conformation and condition. Who fulfills the breed standard the best? When you're ready, my placings can be found under the jump. ↓

The Placings:

🥇1st: Horse A - Shannondell

I pinned the Shannondell mold in first place. Out of the three molds, he's most likely to function anatomically and biomechanically while still conforming to the Shire breed standard. He has a long and lean head, large and docile eyes, and the very slightest hint of a Roman nose. His skeleton and muscles are where they are supposed to be. His back is short and muscular, and his ribs are round and deep. He also has lovely and soft shading and dapples.

🥈2nd: Horse C - Othello

The Othello mold was second for me. He has some things that work for him - this particular model has striking shading, and the gloss doesn't overpower the gray how it often does on lighter models. He has a nice head and neck that conform to the breed standard. However, if we look at his muscles, they fall into the same trap often seen on Moody molds - they aren't always exactly where they should be, or they're too prominent for the movement. To my eye, he's a little over-muscled in the shoulder and hip area. He's not a bad example of a Shire, but the Shannondell mold is just more correct. 

🥉3rd: Horse B - Clydesdale Mare

In third place, I pinned the Clydesdale Mare mold. As her name suggests, she wasn't originally sculpted as a Shire, so she's not the greatest example of one. She's not bad - her forelegs are nice and straight, and she has the desired short and muscular back and feminine appearance. But otherwise, she's missing some key things: her hocks are set too far back and not in line with her hindquarters, and her neck is a bit short. Her vintage dapple gray is also less realistic than the other two models. As far as anatomy and biomechanics go, she's a functional horse but not a great Shire, which puts her below Othello even with his weird muscling. 

How did you pin the class? What made you pick one horse over another? Remember, your placings don’t have to match mine as long as you can justify why you placed the class the way you did! 

This judging clinic originally appeared in the 2026 NAN program. It has been edited to better fit the blog.