HORSE BREED

HORSE BREED

Clydesdales – the Gentle Giants

Originally bred to be a work horse, these days the Clydesdale is as much admired for its temperament as for its work ethic, writes DANNII CUNNANE.

The Clydesdale, the Scottish gentle giant known for its beautiful flowing mane and feathery legs, is one of the most easily recognisable horses in the world.

The Clydesdale was named after the area in Scotland where it was originally bred, and has kept its name, even though the name of the district has since been changed to Lanarkshire. The large hardy horse was suited to most agricultural needs, but its strength also came in on the coal fields when large loads needed to be transported from the mines.

The Clydesdale breed quickly became well known outside of its local area for its ability to pull heavy wagons, and was soon in demand across Scotland and Great Britain. Sometimes referred to as a ‘clumper’ the breed is anything but that – it combines its strength with style, with an active stepping action that cleanly covers the ground. The bottom of each hoof must be visible from behind, so there’s no room for clumping around with the Clydesdale!

What are Clydesdales used for?

Originally the Clydesdale was built for heavy farm work, such as ploughing hard land or hauling great loads over short or long distances. While it still is used for agricultural purposes today, the introduction of farm machinery made the Clydesdale almost redundant.

Nowadays the Clydesdale is used for pleasure, as a cart horse or as a ridden horse. The most famous driven horses in Australia were the Carlton Clydesdales, however they were sadly retired in 2018 after 65 years of collective service.

That isn’t the end of the Clydesdale though, with many agricultural and Royal shows offering classes for this beautiful heavy horse. These classes often have the horses re-enacting their agricultural heritage, as well as offering driven classes with period costume and original carts and wagons that have stood the test of time.

Breed standards

The Clydesdale societies are all about uniformity of type and there is no breed of heavy horse so famous for its quality. The horse should stand proud and its bone should be strong, hard and dense but there is a bit more to the breed than these qualities.

Height: The Clydesdale horse should range in height from 16hh to 18hh. When the horse is fully matured it should be evenly balanced. From the side, the body should show plenty of depth, and from the front or rear should appear broad and thick. The depth of the body, through the chest and length of leg, should be approximately the same. These proportions allow the Clydesdale’s weight to be used to its

A magnificent Clydesdale, showing all the best attributes of the breed.

best powerful advantage.

Head: The head of the Clydesdale should be in proportion to the body. The face should either be straight or slightly Roman nosed and the muzzle should show thin rather than thick heavy lips. The eyes should be more oval than round and there should be plenty of width between the eyes and the forehead.

Neck: The neck should be of moderate length, muscular, arched and well laid into the shoulder. A good head, neck and shoulders denote character, giving the animal a good outlook.

Shoulders: These should be moderately sloped and provide a sufficient collar bed. The shoulders should be fairly wide, well muscled, and the top should be carried close to and tapered into the back.

Who says Clydesdales can’t do dressage?

Legs: The legs should be long, wide, lean and flat and the tendons should show prominently. The long hair or ’feather’ should spring from the back of the tendon and not from the sides of the cannon. Feathers should be soft to touch and straight. The fetlock should be wide, fine and well directed. The pastern should be fairly long and sloping, so as to relieve concussion in the course of action. Leg action: The movement of the Clydesdale should be even and the hind and fore action should always be in unison. The hind feet should be planted forward as deliberately as the fore ones, which should be evenly carried forward. At the walk, the hind foot should cover the imprint of the front foot as a minimum - short stepping is considered a fault in a working horse. The hocks should be turned slightly inward. In trotting, the Clydesdale horse should bend the legs at the knees and hocks and, from the hind view, the inside of the hooves or shoes should be seen at every step.

Further information

The Commonwealth Clydesdale Horse Society of Australia is one of the best places to obtain information about the Clydesdale in Australia. They also have chapters in every state.

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One of the famous Carlton Clydesdales.

A Personal Journey with Dannii

“I grew up around Clydesdales, because my adoptive dad, Glen Denholm, broke them in for harness and saddle. We lived on the outskirts of Sydney and many of the Carlton Clydesdales came to us for education so that they were ready to undertake their job in a safe manner as soon as they arrived at the Carlton Clydesdale Pavilion in the heart of Sydney.

It was the absolute highlight of my life to see them in action and luckily for me, I got to see it on an almost weekly basis. Nothing will ever beat the sound of that six-in-hand leaving the pavilion - the noise gave me goose bumps. I was so proud of that team and I would always get a little emotional when the hooves clattered against the ground when either Teamster Terry Goodear or Richard Geldard gave the command. I’ve been blessed to have some wonderful horses in my life and many of them were magnificent Clydesdales.”

Dannii Cunane

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Duke – not your average Clydesdale!

It’s not often that you see a Clydesdale competing at FEI Prix St Georges level, and about to go Intermediate 1, but Duke is a bit of a superstar, and JULIE MILLS rates a lot of his success to his feed.

I’ve been using Maxisoy + Low GI Super Fibre Pellets for about 13 years now,” she says. “I’ve also been feeding Copra Max, for the last four or so years. And my horses absolutely love both feeds.”

Julie was recommended Maxisoy by a friend, who was feeding it to her two ponies. “I was actually happy feed my horses their usual feeds,” she says, “but over time I came to see that they are actually high in sugar – and pretty expensive as well.”

At the time, Julie’s horses were coming up through the dressage levels, so she was finding herself having to substantially increase their feed/energy intake. “I had to keep weight on them,” she explains, “and I had to keep their energy levels up during training as well as during competitions, but after speaking with an equine nutritionist, I realised that the feed held very little nutritional value.

All I was really doing was giving my horses sugar highs and lows. Hence why they couldn’t hold their weight or sustain their energy levels for any length of time.”

Julie listened to her friend, and tried Maxisoy + Low GI Super Pellets.

“I have to say that initially I wasn’t sold on it, particularly since you have to soak it in water. A week passed, and I couldn’t see any improvement or results – I’m really not sure what I was hoping to see in a week when I think about it,” she laughs.

A couple of weeks passed and Julie wasn’t sure there was any appreciable difference, until she took her horses to a lesson, and discovered that instead of flagging around the 45-minute mark, they went for an hour, and still had energy to burn. “I also noticed that the Maxisoy definitely lasted a lot longer than the previous feeds,” she says. “Now my horses are fed Maxisoy + low FG Super Fibrre Pellets, and I love it because it’s easy and quick to prepare, it’s very reasonable cost-wise, it has great nutritional value; it’s a low GI slow release energy feed, and has no processed sugars. It’s also low in fat, with an easily digestible fibre.”

Julie is extremely happy with the feed. “Plus,” she says, “my horses are super-shiny all year-round without feeding loads of expensive lotions and potions.”

Julie’s beautiful Clydesdale Duke, registered name, Kaaru Flash Duke, is registered with the Commonwealth Clydesdale Horse association. Julie pur-

chased Duke as a 15-month-old-yearling from a Clydesdale breeder in Broadford, Victoria. She started Duke under saddle herself when he was three-and-a-half. “Initially we started competing low levels in both jumping and dressage,” she says, “then as four-year-old Duke started regular dressage lessons. The more I trained him, the better he became. Now he’s 13, Duke is successfully competing at FEI Prix St George level, and soon to have an Intermediate 1 start which will make him the only full Clydesdale in Victoria to be successfully competing at FEI small tour level and I’m pretty sure he is also the only Clydesdale in Australia currently competitively competing at this level.”

To top off this unusual Clydesdale career, Duke is also currently working on Grand Prix movements, and, says Julie, showing a real talent for piaffe.