174 THE HORSE BOOK. 



that it did not differ materially from that of 

 England. A starting point is, however, fur- 

 nished us. In 1750 John Patterson of Loch- 

 lyoch imported from England into Scotland a 

 black Flemish stallion. To this horse may be 

 traced in lineal ascent, through the celebrated 

 sire Glancer, alias Thompson's Black Horse, 

 most of the best Clydesdales now living. Rarely 

 does it happen that only one breeder makes a 

 move of this kind, and though we have no such 

 positive evidence as in the case of the Lochlyoch 

 Flemis^h stallion, we may fairly assume that 

 others were brought into Scotland about the 

 same time. So to the black Flemish blood in- 

 troduced about 160 years ago into North 

 Britain we may trace the real improvement of 

 the Clydesdale. 



At the beginning of the nineteenth century 

 many of the breed were grays. The famous 

 Broomfield Champion was out of a gray mare. 

 In spite of its prevalence the gray color was 

 distasteful to the Scotch, and before the cen- 

 tury had reached one-third of its growth, steps 

 were taken to promote the production of the 

 *^hard'' colors. In this endeavor the Highland 

 & Agricultural Society along in 1829 offered 

 prizes for dark bay and brown horses, barring 

 the grays from competition. The gray color 

 has persisted in small degree, however, though 

 it is no better liked today in Caledonia than it 

 was then. 



