Death of the gentle giants
Magnificent Clydesdales on brink of ‘vortex of extinction’
THEY were once the pride of a nation, prized for the strength that made them invaluable in heavy farm and industrial work.
But Scotland’s largest and most iconic horse breed is on the verge of extinction.
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust now classes Clydesdales, originally bred in Lanarkshire, as ‘vulnerable’ in Britain.
The gentle giants were once exported all over the world.
Their immense pulling power was ideally suited to agriculture – and in wartime they handled rough terrain better than any vehicle.
But numbers dwindled as mechanisation increased.
Now a BBC Scotland documentary to be aired next week reveals the extent of the crisis, saying that without urgent action the celebrated breed will enter the ‘vortex of extinction’.
The film follows the efforts of Professor Janice Kirkpatrick, an award- winning Glaswegian designer and Clydesdale horse expert, to reverse the decline.
Professor Kirkpatrick hopes to introduce new bloodlines and develop a world-class centre for the breed. She said: ‘Clydesdales are incredible athletes, graceful in their movements, but with big personalities.
‘It makes you feel small and humbled and incredibly privileged to be with them.
‘I see them as the most amazing breed – a treasure trove of positive traits and characteristics. But you only need to look at the herd books to see that [the breed] is diminishing.
‘There are far fewer horses. Unless we act quickly, the whole breed can just collapse. It’s now or never.’
The Clydesdale was the product of the race to create the biggest horses to help power the agricultural revolution. Perfected in the Clyde Valley, the first recorded use of the name Clydesdale was in 1826 at an exhibition in Glasgow.
Professor Kirkpatrick worked with scientists to create a snapshot of the health of populations in the UK, North America and Canada. The results show the shrinking Scottish population has less diversity.
She said: ‘For the first time, we have definitive scientific genetic proof that the Clydesdale herd in Scotland is in danger.’
The academic, based at Lindsayston farm in Girvan, Ayrshire, now has five Clydesdales.
Among them is a pure black colt from America with rare DNA which she hopes will help deepen the Scottish gene pool.
Filmed over two years, the documentary follows her to Canada and highlights her work to establish a global centre for the Clydesdale horse in Pollok Country Park, in Glasgow.
The proposal would transform disused stables into an animal genetics centre with a farrier school, conservation and craftsmanship of leather and metal, and a ‘rare breeds’ farm.
Professor Kirkpatrick, who is working in conjunction with Glasgow City Council, said: ‘Pollok Park could be the thing that helps save the horse. It’s the perfect place to give our most powerful and handsome rare breed a bright future.’
David McDonald, deputy leader of Glasgow City Council said: ‘There’s so much potential behind that story that it’s something we should certainly be supporting as a city.’
Clydesdale: Saving the Greatest Horse, produced by the BBC with Screen Scotland and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, on BBC Scotland, December 30, at 7.30pm.
‘Most powerful and handsome’