The Clydesdale horse

The Clydesdale is one of three native British breeds of heavy horse, the others being the Suffolk Punch and the Shire. In the days before farm tractors, these horses were the mainstay of British agriculture, being bred to pull ploughs through heavy soil for hour after hour.

The Clydesdale breed

Clydesdale is the old name for the region of Scotland known as Lanarkshire, where the central lowlands meet the southern uplands, and the River Clyde flows north towards Glasgow. This is therefore an important region for agriculture, and the Clydesdale breed owes much of its success to the need to provide food for the growing industrial towns of central Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The breed dates from the mid 18th century, when native local horses were crossbred with imported Flemish stallions in an effort to produce greater weight and stamina. Several landowners would appear to have been involved in this breeding program, one of them being the 6th Duke of Hamilton, whose stallion was made freely available to his farming tenants. Another breeder was John Paterson of Lochlyloch, who crossbred from a stallion brought from England, and whose horses became much sought after.

Glancer

The true pedigree of the Clydesdale began in 1808, when a farm sale at Carstairs, near Lanark, included a two-year-old filly which later produced a colt foal named Glancer, from which all subsequent generations of Clydesdales can claim descent. The owner of the filly was himself a descendant of John Paterson, so it is reasonable to assume that the breeding line of the horses came from Paterson’s stallion import.

Glancer was described as having “a strong neat body set on short thick legs, the clean sharp bones of which were fringed with nice, flowing silken hair”, which are among the characteristics of today’s Clydesdales.

The high point of the Clydesdale breed

The establishment of the Clydesdale Horse Society in 1877 and the issue of the first stud book in 1878 marked the official recognition of the breed.

Clydesdales soon became highly popular, and over time the best horses came to be prized and extremely valuable. For example, in 1911 “Baron of Buchlyvie” was sold at auction for £9,500, or the equivalent of £275,000 in present-day value. The strength of the Clydesdale was proved in 1893 when two stallions hauled a sledge laden with timber that weighed 128 tons.

At its peak, the breed could boast around 140,000 working farm horses in Scotland, either full or part-bred, with many more working in mining, industrial or commercial environments, such as pulling delivery carts and brewer’s drays. The Clydesdale played an important part in the First World War, hauling artillery pieces to the front line.

Exports of stallions and mares began in the mid 19th century, with many Clydesdales going to Australia and New Zealand, followed by the United States, South Africa, South America and Russia in later years. It is recorded that, in 1911 alone, more than 1,600 stallions were exported from Scotland.

The American Clydesdale Horse Association was started in 1878 (soon renamed Clydesdale Breeders of the United States).

The breed in decline

However, the breed started to decline in the years following World War I, as farm tractors and motorised commercial vehicles became more common. This trend accelerated as the century proceeded, especially when World War II and its aftermath made food production a priority. For example, whereas there were 200 licensed Clydesdales working in England in 1946, by 1949 there were only 80. By 1975 the breed was designated as “vulnerable” by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

More recent interest in preserving breeds of all heavy horses has led to a revival in their numbers, and there are now more than 700 Clydesdale brood mares and 100 stallions registered in the United Kingdom.

The Clydesdale breed today

Present-day use of Clydesdales is mostly for showing and leisure purposes, but the tourist industry has discovered the attractiveness of using heavy horses at heritage sites, for example in hauling horse buses around the grounds of stately homes and open-air museums. Many breweries have found that using Clydesdales to haul drays for local deliveries is good publicity. There has even been a revival of the use of heavy horses for ploughing competitions, and in forestry, where the horse is more efficient (and more environmentally friendly) than the motor vehicle in dragging logs through boggy ground and dense undergrowth.

The United States is where most Clydesdales are to be found today, with more than 600 foals registered annually. The nationwide custom of holding street parades on many occasions throughout the year has given breeders an excellent opportunity to show their horses to the general public, and there is an active programme of showing classes at state and county fairs across the country.