Shire stallions average slightly more than 17 hands (68 inches, or 173 centimetres) in height and weigh as much as 2,000 pounds (about 900 kilograms). Generally massive and somewhat coarse in build, they are characterized by considerable hair, called feather, on their legs and are usually bay, brown, black, gray, or chestnut. In 1878 the Shire Horse Society was established in England; the American Shire Horse Association was founded in 1885.