THE CLYDESDALE. 173 



surpassed, if it is equalled, in any other breed. 

 The long, clean, swinging stride of the British 

 drafter, trudging along with a great load be- 

 hind him, is the perfection of locomotion under 

 such circumstances. How the breeds differ we 

 shall see in the following pages. 



Unlike the nations of continental Europe, 

 Great Britain extends no governmental aid of 

 any kind to her breeders of draft horses. She 

 pays no subsidies and -she makes no inspections. 

 Every breeder does as he pleases irrespective 

 of his neighbor. Thus the three British draft 

 breeds are the result solely of personal en- 

 deavor, undirected by any superior power. The 

 uniformity of type which we see in each of them 

 is little short of marvelous and, I venture to 

 say, an achievement possible only in the Tight 

 Little Isle. 



THE CLYDESDALE. 



It would obviously be beyond the mark to 

 claim that in an island so small as that which 

 contains England and Scotland there has not 

 always been a more or less free interchange of 

 equine stock. Somewhat mythical accounts have 

 come down about various attempts having been 

 made about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury to improve the native Scotch heavy horses 

 in a sort of wholesale manner, but there is no 

 very accurate description of that breed to be 

 obtained. We may therefore safely conclude 



