Clydesdale

The Clydesdale is a Scottish draft horse from Lanarkshire, named for the River Clyde. It began in the mid-1700s when native mares were put to larger Flemish stallions, and the offspring were selected for farm work and heavy haulage, including moving goods through the streets of Glasgow. Horses were shown under the breed name from 1826, and the type was standardized by a system of hiring purebred stallions out around the district. The Clydesdale Horse Society formed in 1877, and its registry reaches back to the 1830s.

They arrived in North America in the 1840s. Size and looks made them promotional animals almost immediately, and in the 1930s Anheuser-Busch put together a hitch to mark the end of Prohibition. The Budweiser Clydesdales delivered the first post-Prohibition beer to the White House and became one of the most durable advertising images ever made. The less visible part is that Anheuser-Busch has run a Clydesdale breeding program since 1953.

They are large, calm and stylish, with heavy feather on the legs and a distinctive high-stepping gait.

Worth understanding as a buyer: a breed everyone can name is not the same as a breed with numbers behind it.