Ivy Shag

The Ivy Shag is a species of horse that is native to Brist which still roams wild among the verdant lands, though they are often tamed and used for farm chores. Ivy Shag horses are highly valued both in Brist and beyond, though any Bristian citizen selling Ivy Shag horses to someone in another nation is looked down upon by their community. When Ivy Shags are trained, they are tamed once they have reached three years of age (or thereabouts), and they are often released back into the wild when they reach 10. For that reason, anyone selling an Ivy Shag is seen as condemning the horse to a life of servitude. 
Ivy Shag horses are squat, powerfully built, yet relatively calm and tame creatures. They are renowned for their wide legs, including girthy fetlocks and pasterns leading into wide and flared hooves. Their barrel is surprisingly trim for their typical overall size, and their necks are relatively short. Ivy Shags often stand no more than 12 hands high, and are frequently 8-10 hands tall. They range from black to dark brown in colour, with rare variants occurring in roan and dark grey. Their coats are often striped, either darker or lighter, though sometimes that stripes are very hard to see without shearing. Their coat is thick and coarse, though their manes are often very short and their tales tend to grow in seven to eight different splitting branches from the main base, which is not fully grown until they are three years old.
Ivy Shags are so called because of their thick coats but also because they are particularly fond of eating ivy. They especially love finding long strands of ivy, pulling them from trees, and then eating them for a long period of time, even dragging ivy strands with them when they move from place to place.