THE DEAFT BREEDS OF HORSES 27 



secured through concentration on one feature after an- 

 other, until it produced the desired results. Without 

 government direction or aid to secure uniformity of 

 progress, it is safe to say that the Scottish breeders have 

 accomplished as marked improvement in their draft 

 horses as the breeders of any other nation, and the modern 

 Clydesdale of accepted type possesses inherited char- 

 acteristics so fixed by consistent breeding that they are 

 likely to be passed on to succeeding generations. Archi- 

 bald MacNeilage, secretary of the Clydesdale Horse 

 Society of Scotland, in a review (Famous Clydesdale 

 Sires, Transactions of Highland and Agricultural Society, 

 Vol. IX, 1897) of the most noted Clydesdale sires from 

 Champion to MacGregor 1487, shows the evolution of a 

 type from a coarse prototype, which the author describes 

 as being a horse of weight with plenty of strength of bone, 

 but not at all " right at the ground " in the modern sense, 

 nor as " sweet " in his limbs as horses are liked now. 



For a century the Clydesdale breeders in Scotland 

 worked without results that were striking on the surface, 

 but when this cycle had passed, the evolution of such sires 

 as Prince of Wales (673) and Darnley (222) had crowned 

 their efforts. The former is credited with possessing 

 style and action in an unusual degree, and these qualities 

 were very desirable to graft on to the breed at that time. 

 But with the production of Darnley (222), a sire possess- 

 ing the true balance of qualities which mark the service- 

 able draft horse, with the power to reproduce these, the 

 Clydesdale breed received an impetus that effectively 

 disarmed the old-time criticism of " light middles." 

 From the Prince of Wales line has come Prince of Albion 

 (6178), said to be the highest-priced two-year-old draft 

 horse ever sold, up to this time, he bringing 3000. He 



