Chapter IV. 



CLYDESDALES. 



Like the Percheron, the French Draft, and in fact all of the other 

 Draft Breeds, the Clydesdale owes its original merit to the Black Horse 

 of Flanders a lineal descendant of the great Black Horse of Northern 

 Europe, which, according to Professor Low, inhabited "in the wild state 

 the vast regions of marsh and forest which stretched all through Europe 

 to the Euxine [Black] sea." The first mention we have of large horses 

 in Scotland is found in a particular edict of "Safe Conduct" from King 

 Edward I., issued in 1352, and referring to "ten large horses," which 

 were to be taken to Teviotdale. Although it is not definitely stated 

 whence these horses came, yet from the fact that the edict was obtained 

 by the Earl of Douglas, it may be reasonably inferred that the horses 

 were taken from Douglas Castle, in the upper portion of Lanarkshire, 

 otherwise termed Clydesdale; and from the additional fact that the 

 Earl of Douglas was an ancestor of that famous breeder of Clydesdales, 

 the Duke of Hamilton, we may reasonably suppose that these "ten 

 large horses" were an important factor in laying the foundation of the 

 original Lanarkshire breed. 



And now, in relation to the use of the Black Horse of Flanders, we 

 have the following from the retrospective Volume of the Clydesdale Stud 

 Book: 



"Some time between 1715 and 1720, John Paterson, of Lochlyoch, on the estate and 

 in the Parish of Carmichael, grandson of one John Paterson, who died at Lochlyoch in 

 1682, went to England, and brought from thence a Flemish stallion, which is said to have 

 so greatly improved the breed in the Upper Ward as to have made them noted all over 

 Scotland." 



From the same authority we quote : 



"The Lochlyoch mares were generally browns and blacks, with white faces and a 

 little white on their legs ; they had gray hairs in their tails, occasionally gray hairs over 

 their bodies, and invariably a white spot on their belly, this later being recognized as a 

 mark of distinct purity of blood." 



There earn be little doubt of the presence of Flemish blood in the 

 present Clydesdale race. But we are strongly inclined to give credit, not 

 so much to the heavy, clumsy Black Horse, as to the infusion of some 

 lighter but stronger blood, which has given to the breed its well known 

 courage and action, in marked contrast to the sluggish movements of 

 the old Cart or Lincoln horse of England. The colors of the Lochlyoch 

 mares the last of which died out some thirty-five years ago consid- 

 ered in connection with the predominant bay color of modern Clydesdales, 



