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The Clydesdale Horse

© Marta Towne

The Clydesdale Horse is a draft horse breed. The males are usually between 17 to 19 hands high and weigh between 1,700 and 2,200 pounds, the female is between 16 and 18 hands high and weighs between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds. This breed is extremely strong and barrel-chested and was originally bred to haul coal and do farm work. Most animals are bay or brown, but can be grey and black. Many have white on their faces and their legs, and on occasional animals is Paint.

The Clydesdale breed originated in Clyde Valley, Lanarkshire, Scotland, in the mid eighteenth century. The sixth Duke of Hamilton imported a Flemish stallion and bred him with work horses. The first time the breed was publically acknowledged as a Clydesdale was in the 1826 Glasgow Exhibition in Scotland. Following the contributions of Flemish and Fresian stallions, the definitive characteristics were set in the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Prior to the development of this breed, the Shire was the most popular carriage horse in Scotland, but the Clydesdale eventually replaced the Shire in popularity as both a work horse and carriage horse.

There are between 2,500 and 3,000 Clydesdales in the United States, and approximately 400 new horses are registered each year. The breed was introduced into the United States prior to the Civil War. Though they are used more many purposes, the best known group is undoubtedly the Anheuser-Busch brewery team. This company currently maintains the largest herd of these majestic animals is North America, between 175 and 200 horses. They operate two breeding studs in the United States which produce about 30 to 40 foals per year.

Clydesdales usually live to be between 16 to 22 years old, depending on several factors including how well they were cared for, the amount and type of work they have done and the genetics of a particular horse. Many of these animals develop additional white on their face as the age, but that is by no means a definitive means of determining age. As with all horses, the teeth are the best indicators of the age of a horse.