ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Clydesdale Draft Horse

Updated on March 30, 2014
DonnaCSmith profile image

Donna Campbell Smith is an author, freelance writer, and photographer. She has an AAS degree in equine tech and is a certified instructor.

Most Recognized Draft Breed in America

 

Probably the most recognized of draft horse breeds in American, thanks to beer and football, is the Clydesdale. Staring in some of the Super Bowl's most memorial commercials, the Clydesdale hitch is well known for pulling the Budweiser Beer Wagon.

Clydesdales at Quail Creek Farms, Lexington, NC

Photo by Donna Campbell Smith
Photo by Donna Campbell Smith

Developed in the 1800s in the county of Lanarkshire, Scotland (formerly known as Clydesdale) the Clydesdale's purpose was farming. According to legend the Duke of Hamilton imported six black Flemish coach stallions from Flanders. These horses were bred to domestic mares and eventually resulted in the Clydesdale.

The breed soon became an important contributor to Scotland's mining industry in addition to farming. The horse's reputation as a tractable, strong, and agile workhorse spread easily from Scotland to England, and by the late part of the century the horses were being exported to the United States and Canada.

The Clydesdale Breeders of the United States was incorporated in 1879. The horse was used in farming, forestry, and for transporting people and goods by wagon and carriage. As tractors replaced workhorses, the Clydesdales dropped in numbers in the United States. But in recent years they have become popular as carriage and show horses. Their colorful markings and showy action at the trot, the long feathering (long hair on horse's lower legs) and high head carriage give them a presence unmatched in other draft breeds.

The National Clydesdale Horse Show has run for over thirty years and offers halter classes, junior exhibitor showmanship, and various carts and hitch classes. The Clydesdale can also be found competing in events outside its breed shows in hunter, jumping and dressage. They are also popular riding horses.

Clydesdales are valued for their intelligence and willing disposition. They stand from 16 to 19 hands and weigh from 1,600 to 2,200 pounds; size should not outweigh good conformation. The Clyde has a good size foot and strong legs, which results in a sound horse with few lameness problems. The over-all conformation creates a balanced, agile horse with substance.

The 2008 National Clydesdale Sale showed this breed to have maintained a strong market, whereas the horse market has shown a huge low for many other breeds. Their top selling horse was Robyncroft Fuslier's Fire, a three-year-old gelding that sold for $20,000 to David Carson of Listowel, Ontario. Over all 135 Clydesdales were sold, averaging over $4,000 each. Nearly 1500 spectators attended the sale held in Madison, Wisconsin.

There are about 4,000 Clydesdales registered with the Clydesdale Breeders of the USA. Anheuser-Busch is the largest breeder of Clydesdales in the world with 225-250 head. The Budweiser Clydesdales are the most traveled horses in the world, logging 100,000 miles per year to appear in parades, festivals, rodeos, horse shows, and other events. The company has five eight-horse hitches that travel all over North America and sometimes overseas.

Photo by Donna Campbell Smith
Photo by Donna Campbell Smith
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)