The Clydesdale. i6i 



" I have bred some very good horses by a Clydesdale stallion out of clean-legged, deep- 

 made mares, bred in Essex. The great fault of most of the Clydesdale horses is their small 

 barrels and want of breadth in the frame. These faults were corrected in the cross I have 

 tried, while the activity of the Clydesdale was preserved." 



THE CLYDESDALE. 



The Clydesdale is of Scotch origin ; according to tradition, for which there is very little 

 evidence, the result of a cross made by a Duke of Hamilton between the draught mares of 

 the country and some Dutch stallions. It is a breed which was formerly seldom found in 

 England, except on the fancy farms cultivated regardless of expense by great landed pro- 

 prietors, and maintained as stallions for the benefit of tenants. The Clydesdale is certainly 

 the most taking of the cart race, and only wants, with his handsome head and graceful fore- 

 hand, a little fining down to figure as a charger in the picture of some imitator of Vandyke 

 or Rubens. 



Clydesdales are remarkable for fast action in the walk, and even in the trot. At a local 

 show held some years ago on Clifton Downs, near Bristol, a Clydesdale stallion, exhibited by 

 the Duke of Beaufort, "weighing nearly a ton," out-trotted all the hacks in the show in a course 

 of a few hundred yards. The Clydesdale has more quality in head, hair, skin, and style, than 

 any other cart breed. Bays and browns are the prevailing colours ; the faults are a light body, 

 legs too long, and a hot temper at work. Sixteen hands to si.xteen hands one inch is the 

 usual height ; the finest specimens are taller. Of late years the light body has been corrected 

 by judicious crosses. 



At a plough trial at Versailles, which took place during the first Paris International Show, a 

 pair of Clydesdale horses, as recorded in a French official report, beat easily several teams of three 

 horses of the best French breeds — Percheron, Boulonnois, &c. 



The late Prince Consort had some very fine Clydesdales of his own breeding at his model 

 farm in Windsor Park. The coloured illustration to this chapter has been painted from the 

 stallion Prince Albert, probably one of the best Clydesdales in the kingdom, the property 

 of Colonel Loyd Lindsay, V.C., M.P., of Lockinge Park, Berkshire, who writes, " Prince Albert 

 is 17 hands in height, 7 feet 6 inches in girth, 18 inches round the fore-arm, and lo^ inches 

 below the knee." These dimensions are quite beyond the average. 



The finest exhibition of Clydesdales is to be seen at the agricultural shows held at Glasgow 

 and Edinburgh. 



At a stallion show held at Glasgow in 1874, at which, besides the Glasgow, more than 

 twenty other societies contributed, offering about ^{^^1,500 in prizes, twenty-five Clydesdale 

 stallions of a high class were paraded before the judges. After the prizes had been awarded, 

 the agents of various districts in Scotland and the North of England made arrangements for 

 securing the services of the horses they fancied by paying a premium for their travelling in 

 particular districts. These premiums, by way of retaining fees, varied from ;^ioo to £\6o for 

 the season ; in the latter case for a guaranteed list of 160 mares. The colours premiumed at 

 this great show were bay and brown, and one black. 



In 1873 the representatives of two horse-breeding associations formed by the farmers of 

 Cornwall each purchased Clydesdale stallions in Scotland at ;{;300 apiece. But Cornishmen 

 have always been famed for independence of character, and put their own shoulders to the 

 wheel instead of whining to a Downing Street Jupiter. The present breed of Clydesdales is 

 both compact and active. Messrs. Pickford and Co. for some years past have used nothing 



