Zombie book, part 2: how long would it take for an underweight Shire horse to become healthy

Be careful where you put Shires; they're not exactly common. Not that most people would care if you stick a couple Shires arbitrarily in the middle of Alabama or somewhere like that, but those of us who know how uncommon Shires are would be a little bit like ... "what?"

Also, if your characters plan to ride the Shires, understand that MOST Shires are used for pulling carts and wagons, and are not really trained for riding.

To answer your question, if the horses had access to free good quality pasture, 6 months or so. If they had access to good quality grain, 3-4 maybe.

Shires are just as rideable as any other horse, as are all breeds. And most horses trained to drive can be broke to ride very easily--it's just a matter of being on their back instead of behind them on a plow or wagon, and getting them used to a few different cues. Nowadays, more people are seeing drafts as riding breeds too--I sure do.

Here is a good site that I bought my horse "St. Nik" from. The horse "Zena" is a Shire X. "Simba" is a Belgian, he's huge but very kind--a 5 yr old rides him. All of these horses (except the few non-drafts) have been used primarily as cart horses or plow horses and are all from the Amish. Now they're all ridable and act just like any other horse. So your Shires are just as rideable as any other horse.

Oh, and anyone that can afford to buy two full Shires, they can probably afford the automatic waterers. Keep in mind a hungry horse that large (think a ton) could probably break out of the stall.

www.firstdraftfarms.com

http://www.rideadraft.com/horses_sold.ht...