HORSES FOR HEAVY DRAUGHT. 617 



very mixed lineage, although its distinctive characters have 

 been communicated to it by the blood of the Black Horse. 



The Clydesdale breed of horses, as it now exists, is of the 

 larger class, the ordinary stature of the individuals being six- 

 teen hands. Their prevailing colour is black, but the brown 

 or bay is common, and is continually gaining upon the other, 

 and the gray not unfrequently manifests itself although the 

 parents should have been dark. They are longer in the body 

 than the English Black Horse, and less weighty, compact, 

 and muscular ; but they step out more freely, and have a 

 more useful action for ordinary labour. They draw steadily, 

 and are usually free from vice. The long stride character- 

 istic of the breed is partly the result of conformation, and 

 partly of habit and training ; but, however produced, it adds 

 greatly to the usefulness of the horses, both on the road and 

 in the fields. No such loads are known to be drawn at the 

 same pace by any horses in the kingdom as in the single- 

 horse carts of carriers and others in the west of Scotland ; 

 and in the labour of the field these horses are found to com- 

 bine activity with the physical strength required for draught. 

 The horses of this breed are now reared over all the coun- 

 ties of Renfrew, Ayr, and Dumfries, but they are still pro- 

 duced in the greatest numbers in Lanarkshire. They have 

 fair justice rendered to them when young, by their being 

 allowed their natural exercise over a large range of pastur- 

 age until the age at which they are taken up for work. Al- 

 though not pampered, the mares, when in foal, are kept in 

 good order by means of turnips, potatoes, and similar food. 

 The only kind of horses, too. reared by the farmers being 

 those of the native stock, there is no mixture of breeds, and 

 little employment of those half-bred mares which are com- 

 mon in other breeding districts. On the other hand, the 

 rearing of draught-horses being more a part of the regular 

 routine of the farm than elsewhere, the farmers are usually 

 satisfied to obtain a fair average stock without seeking to 

 produce horses of superior figure and higher price. Fewer 



