HEAVY HORSES 189 



exception to the title of Clydesdale being conferred upon the breed, which 

 he refers to as the Lanarkshire, though he admits that " they are natives of 

 every county of Scotland south of the Tay, and therefore ought rather to be 

 denominated the Scottish breed of horse". Aiton, it may be added, appeals 

 quite to have shared the Reverend David Ure's enthusiasm for the variety, 

 as he described it as "the most valuable breed of draught-horse in Britain, 

 not only for farming business, but for every description of work where 

 strength, agility, and docility of temper are required ". Aiton also con- 

 firms Mr. Ure's description of the breeding of these horses by farmers in 

 a small way, whilst he expresses the opinion that much of the improvement 

 that had been effected was due to the better feeding and treatment received 

 by the animals. 



As there appears to be a certain amount of doubt concerning the 

 exact tap - root from which the modern Clydesdale originally sprang, 

 a description of some famous mares, all of which died out at about 

 the commencement of last century, may be read with interest. Some 

 eighty years previously, that is about the year 1715, it is stated in the 

 Stud-book of the Clydesdale Society, one John Paterson of Lochlyoch, in 

 the parish of Carmichael, went to England and purchased a Flemish 

 stallion, which he brought home and crossed with the North Ward mares, 

 the result being that the produce became known for their excellence all 

 over Scotland. The Lochlyoch mares, it is added, were generally browns 

 and blacks, with white faces and a little white on their legs. They had 

 gray hairs in their tails, occasional gray hairs over their bodies, and 

 invariably a white spot on their belly, this latter being recognized as a 

 mark of distinct purity of blood. It was no doubt principally due to the 

 influence of the black Flemish stallion of 1715 that so many of the 

 Lochlyoch mares were so dark in colour, as it must be remembered, as 

 stated above, that it was a bay stallion that won the first prize offered 

 by the "Society of Improvers" at Edinburgh, in 1759; bay, therefore, 

 must have been accepted as a correct colour of the breed upwards of a 

 century ago. 



Before that period the history of the Clydesdale, as may be gathered 

 from what has been said, is obscure. In fact, there are reasons that 

 have been pointed out by writers upon the breed, for accepting with the 

 greatest caution the information that has been forthcoming from authorities 

 of a later period. This information was doubtless given honestly and 

 in the best of faith, but it is at the same time quite within the limits of 

 possibility that inaccuracies may have crept into the narratives that have 

 been told. As a case in point, allusion may be made to the case of the 

 famous stallion dancer, 335 in the Stud-book of the Clydesdale Society, 



