History & Distribution - Clydesdales

HISTORY

1. Horses were first domesticated in the Ukraine approximately 6,000 years ago. 2. The Clydesdale breed originated in the Clyde Valley, Lanarkshire, Scotland. 3. The Clydesdale breed originated in the mid-eighteenth century, when the Sixth Duke of Hamilton (1742 - 1758) imported a flemish stallion (male horse) from Flanders (a region of Northern Europe currently encompassed by France, Belgium, and the Netherlands). It's from this stallion mating with a work horse mare that the Clydesdale breed developed. 4. Following contributions from Flemish and Frisian stallions, the definitive characteristics of the breed were fixed at the beginning of the eighteenth century. 5. This breed's official debut under the name Clydesdale was at the 1826 Glasgow Exhibition in Scotland. 6. The Clydesdale was bred for hauling coal and doing farm work. In Scotland it eventually replaced the Shire breed as a carriage horse.

DISTRIBUTION

1. Clydesdales are bred in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Africa, New Zealand and Australia. 2. Clydesdales were introduced to the United States Prior to the Civil War. 3. One of two breeding farms for the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales is Grant's Farm, located in south St. Louis, Missouri. Approximately 15 to 20 foals (a horse under six months of age) are born there each year. Grant's Farm is the former home of Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War commander and the eighteenth president of the United States. 4. The second breeding farm is located near Romoland, California, about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Approximately 15 to 20 foals are born there each year.

POPULATION

1. The estimated United States Clydesdale population is between 2,500 and 3,000. 2. Approximately 400 Clydesdales are registered in the United States each year. 3. Anheuser-Busch currently maintains the largest Clydesdale herd in the world, between 225 and 250 horses.