HISTORY OF CLYDESDALES 405 



horses, the character of the soil for producing frames of 

 superior size having no doubt been the chief primary cause of 

 its distinction in this respect. After the union of the crowns 

 of England and Scotland in 1603, an important droving trade 

 in cattle and horses sprang up between the two countries, 

 which continued for over two centuries until it was checked 

 by the development of the railway systems of the country. 

 The Scotch cattle-drovers going south with their herds of 

 store bullocks, frequently brought back with them choice 

 specimens of English colts and fillies, so that in this way 

 the original stock of the country, before the name of Clydes- 

 dale was used with reference to the breed, would be blended 

 with English blood, by animals, some of the ancestors of 

 which had been imported perhaps a century before from the 

 Continent of Europe. The splendid success as a sire of a 

 black Flemish stallion imported from England by John 

 Paterson, of Lochlyoch, about 1750, is strong presumptive 

 evidence that the mares to which this horse was put were 

 nearly enough related to him to prevent the appearance in 

 the progeny of that tendency to variation which accompanies 

 the crossing of animals of distinctly different breeds. Though 

 the credit of establishing the Clydesdale breed is now 

 generally given to Lochlyoch's black horse, it is probable that 

 he was merely the first out of many horses of a similar kind 

 regarding which any written record was kept. But for the fact 

 that the Paterson family possessed the then unique custom 

 of recording important events in writing, we should probably 

 have known as little of this famous horse as we now know 

 of his presumptive predecessors. The Lochlyoch mares 

 descended from this horse and belonging to " the most noted 

 breed in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire during the 

 eighteenth century," are recorded in the Stud Book as having 

 been 



" Generally browns and blacks, with white faces and a 

 little white on the legs ; they had grey hairs in their tails, 

 along with occasional grey hairs over their bodies, and invari- 

 ably a white spot on their belly, this latter being regarded as 

 a mark of distinct purity of blood." 



This no doubt gave origin to the impression that a pure 

 Clydesdale ought to possess a white mark, however small. 

 It is interesting to notice that white hairs appear scattered 



