…and on the eighth day God created the horse in perfect image, to romp, graze, gallop, play, and make manure wherever it darn well pleases, in divine grace.
The River Clyde, in Scottish Gaelic, “Watter o Clyde,” is a river that flows north into the Firth of Clyde, in Scotland, UK. A firth is a Scottish word for coastal waterway.
The River Clyde travels through Glasgow, and is an important waterway for trade and ship building in the UK. (1)
The ship building industry along the Clyde River suffered major attacks by the German Luftwaffe in WWII. Today, two ship building shops still exist, and the Royal Navy keeps nuclear submarines there. (2)
The Clyde region of Scotland sourced the development of a magnificent draft horse in the 19th century that referenced the area where they originated. Using Flemmish stallions imported by the 6th Duke of Hamilton and local farm mares, a nice workhorse was created. (3)
Shire Heavy Drafts were also incorporated into the bloodlines.
By 1826 the term “Clydesdale” was fully in use, and by 1830 a string of foundation stallions standing at stud helped to spread the breed all throughout Scotland and on into England.
The Breed Registry was created in 1877. (4)
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, thousands of Clydesdales were exported all around the world. New Zealand and Australia benefitted in particular from the huge workhorses and they became known as “the breed that built Australia.” (5)
During WWI the population of Clydesdales was significantly reduced, as they were used as war horses in hauling heavy artillery.
They were also used to haul beer and brewery wagons and coal carts. The coal carts were the heaviest loads around back in the day, when coal was used for trains and stoves. The heavy draft horses hauled the coal via the large carts to towns not serviced by railways and train stations. (6)
The Clydesdale was also used in the mining of iron and coal and in the ironworks and refineries of the time, including the shipbuilding yards in the Glasgow area.
After WWII, the breed continued to decline.
By the 1970’s, the Rare Breeds Survival Trust had listed the Clydesdale as “vulnerable to extinction.” (7)
Clydesdales are an elegant heavy draft horse, bay in color with dark manes and tails, and four white stockings that have long feathers.
Many of them have “Sabino” markings, a group of spotting or coloring patterns on the animal’s body.
Sabino appears in a wide variety of irregular color patterns, but the term “Sabino” in a strict genetic sense refers to white irregular patterns resulting from the Sabino-1 (SB1) gene, and a DNA/genetic test is available for this. (8)
Some Clydes have so much Sabino spotting that they are speckled over 75% of their hair coat.
The most famous Clydesdales are probably the Budweiser Beer Company’s 8-horse hitch that hauls a beer keg, with a driver, a navigator in the shot-gun seat, and a Dalmatian dog.
Clydes are often featured in British military parades, hauling the cart that holds the military band’s giant kettle drums.
The Clydesdale originated in Scotland and is considered a Coldblood, coming in at 16HH to 18HH. They come in bay and bay-sabino, heavy roaning, chestnut, and some are even gray or black.
They do best in temperate flat farmland areas. They are used in harness hitches for carts and wagons, numbering 1-8 animals per respective hitch.
Clydesdales are sociable and friendly and are now used in riding and driving at horse shows, and are even seen out on the trail.
They have an attractive head with a large, broad forehead and muscular body, and they look quite spectacular in the show ring.
Closing now with the immortal words of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, “Happy Trails to You.”
1-3,7,9: Wikipedia/Internet
4-7: “Horses,” by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Jean-Louis Gouraud, Hachette-livre, Paris 2003, 2007