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THE CLYDESDALE - BREED DESCRIPTION
   
Origin: Lanarkshire - Scotland
Height: Average 16.2 hands although 17 hands is not uncommon
Colour: Bay, brown, black, and roan, with white on the face and legs and sometime on the body.
Head and eye: Broad, flat face. Neither dished nor Roman. Wide muzzle with large nostrils. Clear intelligent eyes.
Neck: Long and well-arched.
Body: High withers. Short, strong back setting into heavy musceled hindquarters.
Feet: Much feather covering long pasterns and hard feet.
Legs: Forelegs straight and directly under the shoulder. Hind legs also straight.
Action: Straight, long, free stride. Feet picked up cleanly with the inside of every hoof visible walking behind. For their size active movers.
   
  The Clydesdale Horse is a Scottish breed which originated in Lanarkshire - Clydesdale being the old name for the district. The breed dates back from the middle of the 18th century when improvements in roads around the local coal mines meant that pack carrying horses could be replaced with shoulder hauling ones. Farmers anxious to profit from the need for these larger, stronger and heavier horses crossed their native mares with with much larger Flemish stallions. The resultant larger horses were called Clydesdale

In 1877 the Clydesdale Horse Society was founded in Britain to be followed just a year later by the American Clydesdale Horse Society.

In 191, the even year old stallion, Baron of Buchlyvie which was bred by William McKeich was sold by public auction in Ayr for the record price of £9,500. The equivalent today being around £275,000!


Further details from The Clydesdale Horse Society

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