Clydesdale fans?

I'll have a look for some more photos later - had a VERY busy Saturday (with an Irish Draft, not a Clydesdale, although I did SEE one!), and am spending today recovering! ;)

There's lots of good breeders in this part of the world. Will find one of my magazines and send you a PM with their details.
 
Ancient Hacker said:
DC, well-spotted for the "Save the Clydesdale" link. The Nickweb Stud appears to have recently migrated and taken itself off to Canada, instead of remaining HERE where we need more Clydies.

Short of possibly breaking some rule or other, if anyone feels inclined to suggest UK breeders to me, I'd really welcome a pm. :)

Meantime, any more pics lurking in any vaults? It's a cold and miserable Sunday in my neck of the woods, so I do need some cheering up!
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AH, are you familiar with the magazine 'The Clydesdale International & Shires Today?' It's published quarterly in Scotland, by John Zawadzki. Why not subscribe? The email address is clydehorses@yahoo.co.uk. The website is www.clydeshire.co.uk. You might be able to purchase some recent back issues. There's lots of photos, show reports, interviews with well-known breeders. It might very well feed your growing addiction!
 
Daren and Rutland - thank you both! I did not know there were any mags dedicated to heavy horses; there's I think only one horse publication in the whole of South Africa. So I'm feeling a bit like a kid who's just discovered that there IS a candy store.

This is a shocking addiction developing here. I'm probably about to be diagnosed with some sort of obsessive disorder; all my life with TBs and never have I strayed! Now I shall not rest until I find my perfect Clydesdales.

What has happened to me? :eek: I started off wanting a nice old quiet plod for the husbeast, as I was perfectly contented with my adored TBs. It's this thread, it's wicked! :p:D
 
It's a condition known as Clyditis. It's very infectious... ;)

Also, there are plenty of folks on Facebook who can help you with what you're looking for. Look me up on Facebook and go from there... ;)

(One of my friends has a Clydesdale stallion that was retired, and found a second career as a show-jumper/cross-country/dressage horse!)
 
DarenCogdon Thanks for the heavy horse link - a great help.

I think Adorablealice and Lucyad have posted beautiful x-breeds earlier in the thread. There may be others I've missed. I'd be interested to know who has cross bred Clydies, especially Clydesdale-TBs. A cross with a TB might be a good transitional phase for me to get used to a heavier horse while I hunt for the dream Clydies :D


One can never have too many horses, provided they're well cared for and well-loved. Fortunately we're in the process of moving to a place with approximately 90 acres of paddocks. And as I will be "retired" I will have a lot of time to indulge in my horses rather than doing "real" work!:D
 
Shock, horror, I've ridden a couple of Clydesdale x TBs in my time, too! ;)

I've also ridden a Clydie x Dales pony, and have seen a Clydie x Anglo-Arab once!
 
DarenCogdon said:
Shock, horror, I've ridden a couple of Clydesdale x TBs in my time, too! ;)

I've also ridden a Clydie x Dales pony, and have seen a Clydie x Anglo-Arab once!
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Prove it, DarenCogdon ;):D We need pics!! Seriously, I thought the Clydesdale x TB or other breed (I think there was a Welsh Section D x Clyde, maybe it was Dex's?) pics on this thread have shown some lovely blending of features.

And OK I admit, I'm very short, about 5'3". I'm not worried about the height of the horse, but the width of a big purebred Clydesdale will make me look and feel like an alien. It took me a lifetime to achieve a half-decent leg position as it is. I'm used to "tall and slender" horse types... the closest I could get to being tall and slender myself, I suppose.:o

So where are the pics, DC? :D
 
Billy - 17hh Clydesdale x Thoroughbred gelding:

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And here's yours truly riding Billy, just coming back from a hack around Macmerry (literally five minutes down the road from where I work)
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Thank you Daren! Lovely horse; I'd love to know how one cross-breeds to get the best out of both breeds. I've noticed that many studs make a big deal of the sire, and the dam barely gets a mention. Do you know if Billy's sire was a Clydie or a TB? (You can see I know absolutely nothing about genetics).

And you have horses like this 5 minutes from where you work? Have you ANY idea of how grossly unfair all of this is !:D
 
Ancient Hacker said:
Thank you Daren! Lovely horse; I'd love to know how one cross-breeds to get the best out of both breeds. I've noticed that many studs make a big deal of the sire, and the dam barely gets a mention. Do you know if Billy's sire was a Clydie or a TB? (You can see I know absolutely nothing about genetics).

And you have horses like this 5 minutes from where you work? Have you ANY idea of how grossly unfair all of this is !:D
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I haven't much of a clue about breeding either, so no good asking me!!

And yes, yes I do have some idea! ;)
 
DarenCogdon said:
I haven't much of a clue about breeding either, so no good asking me!!

And yes, yes I do have some idea! ;)
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Daren! All the gear and no idea? Bloody hell, I have considered you the oracle of all things Clydesdale based on the stunning pics you have shared :D I think there's alchemy in breeding; part science, part art, and a dash of magic. Certainly we've all seen some unfortunate breeding here and there. Some breeders really get it "right" though, don't they! I've certainly only seen gorgeous results on this thread. :D
 
Hey, I have some ideas! They're not always good ones, but I have them anyway! :D

Anyway... here's the Clydie-x-Anglo-Arab I mentioned...

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She was a lovely wee mare, but I don't know what happened to her.
 
And here's my mate Ross's horse, Euro. 4yo, 18hh, Clydesdale x Irish Draft.

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I'm still trying to track down the photos of the Clydie x Dales....
 
This pretty wee mare was a Clydesdale-X of some description that I went to have a look at with a view to sharing:

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As was this one:

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And this one:

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BG was a nice wee mare - I'd only sat on her once before I went off on a short hack by myself with her!
 
Now, this wee guy intrigues me. His name's Ryan, and I rode him twice at Peebles Hydro stables. He's definitely got Clydesdale in him, but I'm not sure whether he was full or crossed. He was TINY - less than 16hh - but he was the biggest horse they had!

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This is me riding him the second time. I'm fairly sure we went for a gallop on this occasion!
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The first time I rode him, we went up the hill in a blizzard! Yet, once we turned around at the halfway mark, the snow stopped and we had the loveliest leisurely walk down the hill in almost total silence, save for his muffled footfalls in the snow and the odd bird chirping!
 
Aha! Here's the Clydesdale-x-Dales pony I was talking about!

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His name was Clyde, and he was a good age when I met him (I'm sure he was about 20!). I went up the next day to have a quick go on him to see whether or not I would want to take him on as a share.

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He was quite happy doing a bit of everything, including jumping, but I ended up not taking him on as his owner had someone else in mind.

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The sad thing is he was put down only a couple of months after I rode him! :(
 
AH, generally, when crossing Clyde or Shire or Percheron to TB, the dam is the heavy. The key word here is 'generally.' I do know of the occasional heavy stallion to TB mare, but, more often than not, it's the former way around.

When you mention breeding as part science, part art, and a dash of magic, throw in a substantial amount of luck (or is that the magic?).
 
Everyone has cheered me up so much! I'm sitting in an almost empty house, waiting out the lifting of AHS restrictions so I can move across the country to catch up with my household. I REALLY appreciate this thread more than anyone can imagine. :D

DC, you've started something serious with this thread... you're the best online public relations initiative the Clydesdale world has ever seen!

Rutland H2), the breeding mix fascinates me; I'd guessed one would not put a monster stallion to a dainty TB mare (although I'm sure this happens) but it interests me that - at least in TB breeding here - much is made of the sire but the dam gets scant attention. And yes, there must be luck and magic perhaps, because I've seen some "ugly" horses produce gorgeous offspring, and vice versa. I use the word "ugly" with severe misgivings, because so few are truly ugly but there are some traits one doesn't want to see in any horse.
 
Regarding the dam getting scant recognition, I remember a lovely TB x Shire gelding winning the half-bred Shire ridden class at the 2002 National Shire Horse Show. He was a lovely boy, beautifully produced and ridden. When the announcer broadcast the gelding's win, his TB sire was named, and the only identification of his dam was 'out of a Shire mare.' Now, I was standing with the former owner of that mare, and to say she was disappointed would be a understatement. This occurred at the world's premier show of the Shire horse. I would imagine at any other show, the mare wouldn't have been identified at all.

Speaking of Shires, I know there are quite a few from the UK exported to South Africa. Each year the stud book lists the countries to which Shires have been sent. Unfortunately, the new owners are not listed in the export registry. If they choose to register their Shires in their own names, they will appear in the stud book, but under a re-entry section the following year.
 
Rutland It's a man's world ;) but we dams do all the work when it comes to growing the offspring.

It must have been disappointing to the owner of the shire mare to have the contribution of her girl barely glossed over - especially as I can imagine the foaling watch, and all the care that went into producing the foal. And the sire did his bit (directly or by AI) and cantered off over the horizon to sow more oats!

DC I continue to be enthralled by the eye candy you so gladly share. :D It's thanks to you that I am now probably able to recognise a Clydesdale with some measure of confidence. They really are not often seen around our area. I'm hopeful that Cape Town might have richer pickings on this front!
 
Storm checking out my boots:
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Sovereign, released into the wild!
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Big cuddly bear!
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I know most folk will say all young horses are cute, but there's something extra cute about Clydesdale young 'uns!
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Clearly been a busy day for this one!
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Ancient Hacker said:
They really are not often seen around our area. I'm hopeful that Cape Town might have richer pickings on this front!
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They're not massively common around here, although I do seem to be able to find them easily!

Funnily enough, when I was doing the ride-out on Saturday, we were passing a field, and there was a Clydesdale standing in it! :D No photos, though, as my camera was in my jods and I couldn't easily get it out for a photo! :(
 
RutlandH2O said:
Don't you just know it!!!!
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And in the human variation, don't we just love it when EVERYONE takes their first look at the little darling, cradled by an exhausted mum and shrieks "Oh my God, she/ he's the epitome of her/his father!! Same ears! Identical toes! And the eyes...." etc etc ad nauseum. :rolleyes:
 
Ancient Hacker said:
And in the human variation, don't we just love it when EVERYONE takes their first look at the little darling, cradled by an exhausted mum and shrieks "Oh my God, she/ he's the epitome of her/his father!! Same ears! Identical toes! And the eyes...." etc etc ad nauseum. :rolleyes:
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You've got me giggling so I almost splashed my keyboard with coffee! Funny thing is, when I was being wheeled to my room after having our son, eons ago, I remember opening my eyes for a second and a nurse showing me my baby. First thing I thought "OMG he looks just like my father-in-law!" Now, my fil was 66 years old at the time. Not a good look for a newborn!

Everyone thought our boy looked just like his dad. He was the first b@stard without a mother!!
 
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