shire horse 
noun
A heavy, powerful horse of a draught breed, originally from the English Midlands.This is well illustrated by crossing a large shire horse with a much smaller Shetland pony....
- The Hurricane, though less graceful and slower than the Spitfire, was more a shire horse; incredibly strong and capable of taking many hits before it was taken out.
- Imagine my horror when they told me that, though I was about to gain two wisdom teeth, the rest would have to be yanked out using a pair of industrial-strength pliers and a shire horse.