Clydesdale: Saving the Greatest Horse (2020) Movie Script
There's a perfection about Clydesdales.
They are incredible athletes,
incredibly graceful in their movement.
Just big personalities.
That makes you feel small
and humbled and incredibly privileged
to be with them.
They're beautiful.
They are just beautiful.
In order to have
a Clydesdale become your partner,
you really have to put your ego
to the side and really be
there for that creature
that depends on you.
I see them as
just the most amazing breed.
It's a treasure trove
of positive traits and characteristics
that I absolutely am passionate
that we should not lose.
You only need to look
at the herd books
to see that it's diminishing.
There are far fewer horses.
You don't need
to be an expert to know that.
That's just obvious.
I started asking questions
of the people who bred the horses,
and they were telling me shocking stories
of the breed entering
what they call the extinction vortex.
When a number of factors come together
and unless you react quickly,
the whole breed can just collapse.
So I could either pretend
I hadn't heard that,
or else I could do something about it.
It's now or never.
We've really got to save this breed.
They touch the soul.
They really do.
I'm Janice Kirkpatrick.
I'm a designer.
I have a business in Glasgow with my husband,
an architect called Ross Hunter.
We met when we were students.
We work for some
of the big global players,
British Airways, banks like RBS,
a lot of...
Janice!
Am I not allowed to say that?
No.
I suppose I've always been a big
kid my whole life, in lots of ways.
I like toys.
I like bikes.
The power is remarkable.
Horses are the same.
I think women at a young age
identify with the power a horse
can give them and it's exciting.
I was always interested
in the Clydesdale horse
through my love of horses,
but also through design.
Thirty-odd years of practicing as a designer,
I've come to truly believe
that old is gold.
And, for me, the Clydesdale
is very much this kind of a thing.
Do you remember when horses were here?
Yeah, but, I mean, I can remember
when there was horses here,
but there's not much of it left.
Oh, boy.
This is a barn that would have
at one time had several horses in it.
These would have been big horses, Clydesdales,
the pre-eminent breed.
The best breed.
The most highly bred horses in human history.
And people were immensely proud of their horses.
The breed was born
in the Clyde Valley,
to the southwest of Glasgow.
Everything that came from the Clyde
was of incredible quality,
you know, the ships,
the locomotives, steam engines,
and the Clydesdale horse.
In the lowlands of Scotland,
let's not forget the great work
that's been done,
and is still being done by the ploughman
and his good servant, the horse.
The heavy horse,
Scotland's pride and joy, the Clydesdale.
You need a really well assembled
musculoskeletal frame to get great power
from the rear end of a horse
because it's the great power
that gives it its ability
to push into a collar and move,
you know, a ton weight.
And it's also the power you need
for a great riding horse.
That's where the big horse race started.
The race to create the biggest horses
which could produce the most power
that would fuel the agricultural revolutions
and Industrial Revolution.
Second, Ronnie Black,
number 10.
And third,
number 11,
Amazing Grace from Sandy Aitken.
Well done, Sandy.
I love coming to shows like this
because it really reminds me
of just how long the Clydesdale has been part
of our culture, our history.
That's a nice one.
Is it square buckles, or?
Yeah, it's proper square buckles.
Those who are taking
part in the pairs competition.
I think my earliest memory is
of being at what must
have been a country fair
or a fete in Dumfries.
And I must have been really wee,
not much more than a toddler.
I remember gripping onto the front
of the saddle and looking down
and the movement of the horse
go like that, and thinking, "Oh!"
Well I think I was seven,
I started proper riding lessons.
Thereafter, I became hooked.
When I was a kid,
shows with Clydesdale horses
would have been packed
and it would have been really exciting.
It would have been a real celebration
go and see the big horses.
Today, it's a much thinner affair.
There are fewer people and older people.
Some of the older photography
when they had dappled greys,
they had horses of all colors
which I think would
have been quite amazing to see.
Today, there's really only one color
of horse and that's brown.
And also there's not many horses.
Well, this class that's
just being shown just now,
in the mid '90s
there could have been 20 in that class
and there are three today.
So I'm not quite sure why.
And that was number 27
from Charles Jamieson.
The overwhelming fact
of the Clydesdale is
that the horse and everything
that surrounds it is aging.
Catalogs are available
from the marquee at the top end of the arena.
Good morning, everybody.
Good morning, Joseph.
Ugh.
Hello, Phoebe.
When I went
to Glasgow School of Art, I was 18
and the awful thing was
I had to sell my horse
because no one else in the family rode,
and it scarred me very deeply.
I still have a lot of regret over it.
I always had a heartening
to go back and to ride again.
So I decided I wanted a Clydesdale.
I wanted a black one.
The blacks really appealed to me.
And it's a personal thing I just think
that they look amazing.
I had a look around
and I couldn't find
any black horses in the UK.
So I ended up with this one.
He's an American Clydesdale
from Oregon.
Joe.
He's got a really expressive face.
He's very old-fashioned in style.
He's a big horse by any, any measure.
He's about just a shade under 18 hands.
Woo!
What makes the Clydesdale so special is
for me just the sheer power of them.
They are just magnificent.
Guys like Joe can be so light,
absolutely light as a feather,
and when you get
that power with the lightness,
it's a really special thing.
When I'd made the decision
to get a black Clydesdale,
I got really interested in why
there were no black horses in the UK.
What happened to the black horses?
Where had they gone?
I'm on my way
to meet Shona Harrison,
whose partner, John Zawadski,
sadly died a few months ago.
John was a real expert
in the Clydesdale world
and he traveled up and down the UK
to visit different shows.
I think this is it.
Come into John's office.
I'd love to!
A lot of it's just as he left it
'cause its gonna take a long time
to go through things.
Just watch the steps.
Photographs galore.
Fantastic.
There's one called Grand National
that's used as a...
It's W Johnson, 1918.
I'm very interested in
how the horses change over the centuries.
They definitely have changed a lot.
Over here-
It's a very organized man.
As I was saying,
the breed histories are all down here.
Clydesdale Horse Society history.
All that up there's the history
of Clydesdale Horse Society.
Just amazing.
All the original documents
like newsletters, letters from the secretary,
that sort of thing.
I'm just amazed.
It's not at all what I expected.
So he's pieced together
all the stallion information.
This is going back decades
and decades, you know, like centuries.
It's a cornucopia.
I've never known anything like it.
Just glorious.
Gorgeous.
Shona's collection includes antique sales catalogs
from Scotland's most famous breeder
of Clydesdales, Lawrence Drew.
They are just exceptional.
I've never seen catalogs like this ever.
They are absolutely exceptional.
It's a sale catalog
for the Rolls Royces of horses.
Lawrence Drew, he knew
what he was doing.
You know, when you look
at Prince of Wales, I'm sure there must be a note
somewhere about his color
but he looks like a very black horse.
I've not seen a Clydesdale stallion
in the herd today
that looks like this horse.
Ross-o.
Mm-hmm?
This is the treat.
Oh my.
This is the catalog
for the dispersal sale
of Lawrence Drew's herd.
This is 150 years old.
That's amazing.
That's Prince of Wales,
one of the foundation sires.
And these are all drawn.
Wow,
It's just awesome.
What a size of a horse.
Look at that.
It's incredible.
And he has a lovely smile as well.
I would too I think if I were him.
I missed this the first time. And I looked at the next page,
and then I flicked back
and I found that.
Does this still exist?
I don't know.
Merryton was where the first Clydesdale horses
were really created.
So what happened to the black horses?
I started to dig.
I'm relieved to find
that Merryton is still a farm.
It looks like the baronial tower is
still there and many of the original buildings.
Merryton, this is
where Lawrence Drew had his operation.
He was absolutely clear
that his horses weren't
just to be beautiful.
They had to be functional
and, boy, they had to be sound.
Lawrence Drew, he was an entrepreneur.
He was a showman.
Drew knew where he was going
with the commercial part of the business.
Thousands of horses were exported
and because this was very much a business,
they were building a brand
and this was a big plan.
This was a worldwide plan.
This was about exporting
to Australia and Russia
and Italy and North America and Canada.
And the blacks had been exported
as being amongst the highest quality.
If Drew had lived,
I would just love to have seen
what he could have bred.
But he died hence the dispersal sale.
This sale would have drawn people
from all over the world.
And apparently 6,000 people attended it.
So all of his stock,
which was really, you know,
a treasure trove of the breed,
it was being dispersed throughout the world.
I had a hunch that,
because Clydesdale horses had been exported
that there was a package of genetic material
that had been exported with them.
I want to understand more
about the underlying health
of the Scottish herd
and get a snapshot of whether
or not our gene pool is healthy.
I quickly discovered that the UK
has a very small
and shrinking pool of Clydesdale horses
which means it's very hard
to keep the breed healthy in the future.
I looked a bit further
and started talking to people about it,
talking to the vets about it,
and they started telling me
about problems with the breed.
I started asking questions of the people
who bred the horses.
We lost five one year in a summer.
And they were telling me shocking stories
of the mortality rate
and issues with breeding,
like massively reduced fertility
in mares and stallions,
and increased foal mortality
which means there are simply fewer horses
and there's less genetic diversity.
Clear signals of the breed entering
what they call the extinction vortex.
And, unless you react quickly,
the whole breed can just collapse.
And that changed everything.
Everyone knows there's a problem
and nobody knows what the solution is,
and nobody wants to act first.
I just found it just incredibly sad.
So, I couldn't possibly not try
and do something about it.
I really needed to go
and speak to some scientists
to find out exactly what was happening.
The first thing we need
to find out is how healthy
is the herd in Scotland?
I'm gonna find somebody,
somebody who has the knowledge
to find out what's happening
and what needs to be done.
Secondly, we need to find out
if there is an issue with inbreeding.
And the most important question
is can the breed survive?
That is the really big question.
Hi, hi, I'm trying to get
through to Jessica Petersen.
Hi, Janice.
Thanks for taking this call.
I really appreciate it.
I'm really hoping that you can help
unravel this Clydesdale mystery.
I'm trying to understand
how viable the genetic population is
in our Clydesdale horses in Scotland.
I'm wondering if there's a way
that we can measure that,
if that would be something
that you could help with.
It seems like something
that we could get at using genetic data.
How diverse is this population?
Are the Scottish horses different
than North American horses?
So definitely something
that's up my alley.
Jessica has agreed to do a genetic study
of the Clydesdale populations
in the USA, Canada, and the UK.
And in order to do this,
she needs DNA from horses
in all three countries.
By collecting that DNA,
she can get a snapshot of the diversity
and therefore the health of the populations
in those respective countries.
So Jessica is gonna get 50 samples from Canada,
50 samples from the USA,
which leaves me
to get 50 samples from the UK.
And that gives us 150 hair follicle samples
which is 150 bits of horse DNA.
That should be great.
We should be good to go with that.
This is my little tool kit
for my genetic collections.
It requires the breeder
to provide a hair sample
of around 30 to 40 follicles
which are pulled from the mane or the tail.
I'm gonna do three horses this morning.
That's us.
That's our first sample.
So that's about 30, 40 hairs
with the roots in tact.
Stick that in an envelope.
What I'm gonna do
this afternoon is contact breeders
in the UK independently,
explain to them the project,
and ask them to participate.
Hi, it's Janice Kirkpatrick
trying to reach Caroline Reynolds
regarding the Clydesdale DNA information.
There's this feeling generally
within the kind of Clydesdale owners
in Scotland and in the UK
that everything's just okay.
You know, they see the horse
outside in the field
and the horse looks healthy
and I don't think we've quite got
the urgency of the situation.
But people have been actually
okay about it, saying,
"Yes, we will do it."
Thanks, thank you.
Need to count the bags.
One, two, three, four.
You're a star.
Thank you.
It would just really help.
16 samples.
Fantastic.
I'm sort of the individual
behind the Clydesdale project.
Another two.
I've got another two.
Ah.
Blackstone.
Thank you, Bob.
Two, three, four...36.
So far, so we need another 14.
Thank you so much.
Bye.
49, 50.
We actually have,
we have 50 samples.
We've got 50 samples.
That means that we've actually managed
to find enough DNA to do our survey
of the Clydesdale population.
It's really good.
This just came in the post
for you, Janice.
Oh, thanks, Zoe.
These are the results
of the DNA analysis.
Ah.
Data generated from these samples
support what you suspected.
Based upon the relative isolation
and small population size
of Clydesdales in Scotland,
they do have less diversity
than Clydesdales studied from North America.
And there is an increase in inbreeding
within the Scottish population.
Jessica, I've only skimmed it
but it seems that our hunch was right
that there is an issue with genetic diversity.
So, yes, the concern about
the Scottish population
being very small in size held true
in that inbreeding estimates
of the horses in Scotland
were generally quite a bit
higher than from horses in North America.
And that goes back again
to the small population size
where if there's just not
a whole lot of horses,
you're going to be mating relatives
to relatives whether or not
you are intending to do so.
For the first time, I think
we have definitive, scientific, genetic proof
that the Clydesdale herd
in Scotland is in danger.
We have to do something about it.
It suddenly dawned on me
that I could maybe bring
back some new genetic material,
new genetic Clydesdale material to Scotland
that would give it some diversity
and some sustainability.
The very best horses were exported
because they commanded the highest prices.
They were exported to Canada
from Glasgow, from Liverpool,
and then from Canada they went down
into the United States and South America.
When the genetic material was dispersed,
some pretty big herds
were founded across Canada,
and some of the black bloodlines
are in these herds today.
The black bloodlines that have their roots
in the old stud books in Scotland.
What I'm looking for is
a great-looking and great-performing
pregnant, breeding mare
so I can create black Clydesdale horses in Scotland.
I think the time has now come
for the horse to come back home
again to the place it was created.
It's important that I bring
a horse back into the UK
that is as different as possible
genetically from the horses
that we have at the moment.
Because by doing that,
I will strengthen and widen
and deepen the genetic pool.
Wow.
I've come to Saskatchewan
because there are descendants
of the original horses
that were exported
from Scotland to Canada
all these years ago.
Here we go.
We got some Clydesdales.
Such an amazing country.
It's so big and flat
and vast and endless.
It's so different from Scotland
and the land that we bred
those horses on originally.
With me I have got John Hankinson
who is a long-standing good friend.
He's an equine manipulator.
He's a master farrier.
He's got a whole bunch
of tools in his box.
Let's just go in this way.
Is this it?
We're here.
At last.
Janice, how we doin'?
Good to see you.
Good to see you.
This is John.
Hi there, how ya doin'?
This is Derek.
Nice to meet you.
Derek Cey is a family of Clydesdale breeders.
I think the 5th generation of Clydesdale breeding.
Come on.
Hello.
Hello.
This is great.
This is what I came here for.
Just like swimming with horses.
It's just brilliant.
Derek's herd is vast compared
to anything I can look at at home.
And it's very moving because
it evokes the images
of these huge studs that we had
in Scotland 100 years ago, 150 years ago.
It's just such a treat to see that.
I've gotta to be really objective.
When I see a horse I like,
I'll write down the name,
I'll take a photograph on my phone.
I want a horse
that has big hind quarters,
not fat hind quarters,
big muscular hind quarters
that's where the power comes.
The limbs have gotta be straight.
I also want a horse
that has got really
great rhythm, great movement,
that has got a kind
of cadence to its step.
Amber, 3-year old, she's got a little
bit of an attitude.
Can we take a closer look?
Yep, you betcha.
She caught my eye.
She caught John's eye.
And she's got nice shoulders,
all her zones are good.
She's actually got quite a nice rear end.
What do you think?
Yeah, I like her.
Yeah, yeah.
The other thing about Amber
is she is in foal.
Derek thinks it's Willow Way Nightlight
who is the big black stallion.
So that adds a different dimension,
he's quite a rare black bloodline
from an excellent herd of Clydesdales.
Lot o' check marks you got goin' there.
I like to see that book
when you're all done.
It's tiring.
'Cause you concentrate
and you think I mustn't mess this up.
I mustn't miss something.
So where do you keep your good ones, Derek?
You know how that worked?
So Janice, what are your thoughts?
I really liked Amber.
What did you think?
I think you've mentioned the one
that I've got on my sort of list
as being the prime candidate.
She's in foal, she's got the right attitude.
She's got a nice action.
She's good clean-limbed.
Looks to tick all the boxes.
She's at the moment the one
that I'm thinking is
probably the best one for you.
What's the plan now?
Are we gonna do hands on?
I think that would be a good idea.
I wanted a pair of eyes
on this horse and a pair of hands
on this horse.
John's a very, very good judge
of how a horse is put together physically.
So far, so good.
John's also got a good feel
for personalities.
This is good.
A hell of a girl.
I like this one.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Yeah.
Thank you, John.
She's a crackin' girl, isn't she?
Fabulous.
Hey good girl.
I think that really affected John.
Very rarely, he ever finds a horse
that tries so hard
that he was just amazed at this horse
which is really a wild horse
was trying so hard
to understand what he wanted.
Team hug.
Team hug.
Thank you.
I'm so pleased that you came with me.
That's the right horse.
Her energy is just amazing.
Hey there.
Yes, I've not organized it all
but yes we have a horse.
You are gonna love her.
John is absolutely in love with her,
like unbelievably in love with her.
What this horse is bringin'
over is a whole toolkit of genetic
lovely things that could take
the Scottish herd in different directions.
And that for me is really exciting.
This isn't just about even my lifetime.
This is about other peoples' lifetimes.
Of all breeds, the Clydesdale deserves a future.
So today is D-day.
Really is the conclusion of Amber's
journey over here.
She's had 3,000 kilometers by road
and then another 8 hour journey from Chicago.
It's been delayed for 5 hours
so she's gonna be fairly tired.
I'm really looking forward to seeing her.
My husband Ross hasn't seen her at all
so it's a big deal
for both of us really.
Amber coped ridiculously well
with the travel.
It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas.
I'm very relieved that she is so cool
with everything.
She's not phased by it so that's good.
Don't need your help.
You're such a pest.
This is our Canadian lady.
Don't be cheeky.
She's very cheeky.
I don't call my horses
by their pedigree names.
It's quite nice just
to hang with them
for awhile and find out
what their characters are like.
She just doesn't feel like an Amber.
She's not an amber light.
This horse is a full-on green light.
She was just so audacious
that I decided to call her Jesse James
after the outlaw.
Good girl, good girl.
We've got John Morris,
my local vet coming
to have a look at Jesse.
I'm knackered.
Is this your new girl, Janice?
This certainly is.
Good girl, good girl.
All right so these are identification
documents for the Clydesdale Horse Society.
She looks a very different type.
It's interesting to see
that there was another line
of Clydesdales differentiated in another country.
In terms of her pregnancy,
we don't know quite how far on she is.
It's really very difficult
to try and get a date.
It's not unusual to find that
people sit up for about two weeks
waiting for their mare to foal. And then they go to bed
because they're so tired
and then guess what happens,
they foal that night.
Are there any particular features
of a Clydesdale birth
as opposed to a normal horse birth?
Clydesdales can be more difficult.
If the foal's not
in the right position,
then they can get stuck.
Beyond that there's an inner sack.
Normally the foal bursts through that.
That's part of the birth process
but if the foal is born
and the sack is over its face
then it can't breathe.
It's quite scary stuff actually
especially when it's horses that you love.
If things go wrong,
they go terribly wrong.
and they go wrong very, very quickly.
I've got a very good imagination.
I'm very good at imagining horror stories.
One thing that's become really clear to me
about how we save the Clydesdale
is if we can't tie it
to a hopeful future, it will die.
I really want to create
the world center for this horse
that has got some permanence,
that's got some sustainability going forward.
It builds some value into the horses
so that there's a market for people
who want to buy them,
look after them, and enjoy them,
and keep breeding them.
The actual archway is 17th century.
I've not been here for years.
Absolutely years.
I think Pollok Park Stables are fabulous.
They are fabulous.
They are beautiful.
Early 18th century stables so they fit
entirely with the story of the Clydesdale.
It actually has done well.
It has.
To stay up so well.
The roof's not exactly straight
and I see the pigeons have moved in
but it's not the worst.
So these would be the original stables.
Tell a few stories.
Lots of teeth marks and foot marks,
but no horses.
It'd be great to get them back again.
Oh yes it would.
That's the plan.
Yes, I hope so.
Seems to me
that Pollok House Stables
is a bit of a gift
because it's right in the center of Glasgow
in the Clyde Valley,
the source of this amazing horse.
Pollok Park could be the thing
that helps save the Clydesdale.
Trying to keep sight of Jesse today
because she's really close to giving birth
and I don't want her to creep off
and give birth in the field shelter
or in some other corner of the field.
Because things happen really quickly
in foaling this is me being organized.
I didn't want to get caught up
in the action and not know what to do.
At what point does it get dangerous?
Just watching the time again,
the foal standing, sucking.
There's a 1, 2, 3 rule
which is foal standing within an hour,
sucking within 2 hours,
and placenta passed within 3 hours.
If anything goes wrong,
it goes catastrophically wrong,
very, very quickly.
We installed a little Wi-Fi camera
which is brilliant.
Because it connects to my mobile phone
or my other devices
and it means I can watch
what's happening in the foaling box
so I can check during the night
and just see where she's at.
If there's much movement,
the camera tells me there's movement.
All we can do now is wait.
I want to bring people together
who have an interest in the future
of the Clydesdale horse in Pollok Park.
Around 30% of Clydesdale foals
are dying from a range of disorders
commonly associated with a diminishing
population and a thinning gene pool.
And compared to most
other common horse breeds,
deaths are really rare.
So 30% is a huge number
and it's heartbreaking.
It's heartbreaking for breeders
and it's heartbreaking for the mares
who can carry their foals
for a year before they give birth.
We can do something about it.
What I'd like to do now is
to explore how we might create
a sustainable world center
here in Pollok Park.
Pollok Stables, something that's vibrant,
that's world class.
I have been involved in this project.
It makes sense to me
and this is the moment
when I discover if it is
actually going to make sense
to anybody else.
So there's a lot riding on it.
All breeders as well,
I think we actually need
to work as one.
We need to research old methods,
try to find a way to replicate,
not look what's missing.
We're seeing how important it is
to have somebody like Janice
who has the energy and drive
to just say to people, "Let's do it."
The urgency of the situation
is to sort the gene pool out
and have a breeding plan
that will ensure the health
of the continuity of this breed.
It was really good,
really positive, really positive.
I really feel that we can make something happen.
I feel very good about it.
You know when something feels right.
You just know it.
Hi there.
It's Janice Kirkpatrick at Lindsayston.
I have a mare
who I think might foal tonight.
Thank you.
Thanks.
It got to half past five
in the morning and nothing.
So I went back to sleep.
I don't like lookin' back
at that bit of film very much.
The foal can't breathe on her own yet
because her face is completely covered
in this amniotic sack
that has to be removed.
And Jesse needs to break the sack.
She needs to do it quickly
so the foal doesn't suffocate.
Jesse just instinctively knows
that she's gotta get the sack
off the face of her foal
and help her breathe.
Woke up again, 10 past 6
and there's this little white face
peering out from the straw.
Absolutely shocked.
It was like,
where the hell did that come from?
Ross was going, "There's a face!
There's a face!"
Hello!
It's not up yet.
It just happened.
We'd better phone the vet.
Can you phone John for me?
John? Who's John?
There's an awful lot of blood.
Um...
The, the vet!
That's a wee girl.
A wee girl.
That's a good girl.
Yes.
That's your mum.
When Jesse was pregnant,
I was convinced that this foal
wanted be called Snowy
and Ross thought I was mad.
She's got a big white face
and she's this weird lavender color
with flecks of white through her coat
so she is quite a snowy horse.
She'll go pretty much black.
Thanks for coming over John.
I really appreciate it.
Has the foal been up yet?
No, not yet.
She's finding it really hard to stand.
And we've just been doing a combination
of letting her sleep.
She then gets up,
she can actually latch
onto the teat now
but she can't stand for long.
She's so slippery.
We really want to get Snowy
standing so that she can suckle
from Jesse and get milk, especially
the first milk which is called
colostrum which has got
antibodies in it which will help
build her immune system.
And that's one of the things
that can cause mortality in foals,
is not getting enough colostrum.
We thought, oh, my God,
something's going wrong here.
The structure of the foal's stomach
changes after eight hours
and it becomes impossible
for the foal then to benefit
from this immunity given to it
by its mothers milk.
John wants to make sure
that we've got her immune system
kicked in so he's going to,
he's putting a tube into her stomach
and putting in quite
a lot of colostrum.
He's got to be very careful
to get the tube into the stomach,
not the lungs.
See it there?
Yeah.
And if we can see it...
Yeah.
It's in the right place.
It means it's not in the airway.
It's way down here.
Snowy's snoring and drinking
at the same time.
Just pull it off.
That's good.
There we go.
Well done.
So all that milk in you,
you're going to be strong now.
There we go.
Now she's had some colostrum,
the biggest problem is getting
them up and getting them sucking
within a reasonable amount of time.
Yeah, good girl.
Up we go
Get it right here,
you're a wee bit
too far back again.
She's going for the right bit.
It's always in my mind that
I could lose a foal,
I could lose a mare.
I really, really, really want
this foal to suckle.
The sooner she can stand up
on her own and suck, the better.
If only she could stand
on her own, it would be perfect.
Whoa!
And we're up!
Oh!
That's it.
Are you going to be a big grey girl?
Are you?
Are you going to be a black roan?
Are you going to be black?
Have you got little teeth?
Are these your teeth?
They're tiny teeth.
Imagine having tiny little teeth like that.
Yeah.
I think I've achieved way more
than I ever set out to do.
Atta girl.
Good girl.
I asked a fairly simple question
about why there were
no black horses in the UK.
I got a much bigger,
deeper, wider answer
which gave us a clear indication
of what we need to do
to save this breed.
And there are many other people
who have joined me
who also see the potential in this horse.
Come on, Janice.
I believe I've at least started the journey
of helping them flourish again.
Now how could you not be excited
about something that was created
in this place?
We need to be proud of it
and own it and embrace it
and make sure
it has a bright, shiny future.
They are incredible athletes,
incredibly graceful in their movement.
Just big personalities.
That makes you feel small
and humbled and incredibly privileged
to be with them.
They're beautiful.
They are just beautiful.
In order to have
a Clydesdale become your partner,
you really have to put your ego
to the side and really be
there for that creature
that depends on you.
I see them as
just the most amazing breed.
It's a treasure trove
of positive traits and characteristics
that I absolutely am passionate
that we should not lose.
You only need to look
at the herd books
to see that it's diminishing.
There are far fewer horses.
You don't need
to be an expert to know that.
That's just obvious.
I started asking questions
of the people who bred the horses,
and they were telling me shocking stories
of the breed entering
what they call the extinction vortex.
When a number of factors come together
and unless you react quickly,
the whole breed can just collapse.
So I could either pretend
I hadn't heard that,
or else I could do something about it.
It's now or never.
We've really got to save this breed.
They touch the soul.
They really do.
I'm Janice Kirkpatrick.
I'm a designer.
I have a business in Glasgow with my husband,
an architect called Ross Hunter.
We met when we were students.
We work for some
of the big global players,
British Airways, banks like RBS,
a lot of...
Janice!
Am I not allowed to say that?
No.
I suppose I've always been a big
kid my whole life, in lots of ways.
I like toys.
I like bikes.
The power is remarkable.
Horses are the same.
I think women at a young age
identify with the power a horse
can give them and it's exciting.
I was always interested
in the Clydesdale horse
through my love of horses,
but also through design.
Thirty-odd years of practicing as a designer,
I've come to truly believe
that old is gold.
And, for me, the Clydesdale
is very much this kind of a thing.
Do you remember when horses were here?
Yeah, but, I mean, I can remember
when there was horses here,
but there's not much of it left.
Oh, boy.
This is a barn that would have
at one time had several horses in it.
These would have been big horses, Clydesdales,
the pre-eminent breed.
The best breed.
The most highly bred horses in human history.
And people were immensely proud of their horses.
The breed was born
in the Clyde Valley,
to the southwest of Glasgow.
Everything that came from the Clyde
was of incredible quality,
you know, the ships,
the locomotives, steam engines,
and the Clydesdale horse.
In the lowlands of Scotland,
let's not forget the great work
that's been done,
and is still being done by the ploughman
and his good servant, the horse.
The heavy horse,
Scotland's pride and joy, the Clydesdale.
You need a really well assembled
musculoskeletal frame to get great power
from the rear end of a horse
because it's the great power
that gives it its ability
to push into a collar and move,
you know, a ton weight.
And it's also the power you need
for a great riding horse.
That's where the big horse race started.
The race to create the biggest horses
which could produce the most power
that would fuel the agricultural revolutions
and Industrial Revolution.
Second, Ronnie Black,
number 10.
And third,
number 11,
Amazing Grace from Sandy Aitken.
Well done, Sandy.
I love coming to shows like this
because it really reminds me
of just how long the Clydesdale has been part
of our culture, our history.
That's a nice one.
Is it square buckles, or?
Yeah, it's proper square buckles.
Those who are taking
part in the pairs competition.
I think my earliest memory is
of being at what must
have been a country fair
or a fete in Dumfries.
And I must have been really wee,
not much more than a toddler.
I remember gripping onto the front
of the saddle and looking down
and the movement of the horse
go like that, and thinking, "Oh!"
Well I think I was seven,
I started proper riding lessons.
Thereafter, I became hooked.
When I was a kid,
shows with Clydesdale horses
would have been packed
and it would have been really exciting.
It would have been a real celebration
go and see the big horses.
Today, it's a much thinner affair.
There are fewer people and older people.
Some of the older photography
when they had dappled greys,
they had horses of all colors
which I think would
have been quite amazing to see.
Today, there's really only one color
of horse and that's brown.
And also there's not many horses.
Well, this class that's
just being shown just now,
in the mid '90s
there could have been 20 in that class
and there are three today.
So I'm not quite sure why.
And that was number 27
from Charles Jamieson.
The overwhelming fact
of the Clydesdale is
that the horse and everything
that surrounds it is aging.
Catalogs are available
from the marquee at the top end of the arena.
Good morning, everybody.
Good morning, Joseph.
Ugh.
Hello, Phoebe.
When I went
to Glasgow School of Art, I was 18
and the awful thing was
I had to sell my horse
because no one else in the family rode,
and it scarred me very deeply.
I still have a lot of regret over it.
I always had a heartening
to go back and to ride again.
So I decided I wanted a Clydesdale.
I wanted a black one.
The blacks really appealed to me.
And it's a personal thing I just think
that they look amazing.
I had a look around
and I couldn't find
any black horses in the UK.
So I ended up with this one.
He's an American Clydesdale
from Oregon.
Joe.
He's got a really expressive face.
He's very old-fashioned in style.
He's a big horse by any, any measure.
He's about just a shade under 18 hands.
Woo!
What makes the Clydesdale so special is
for me just the sheer power of them.
They are just magnificent.
Guys like Joe can be so light,
absolutely light as a feather,
and when you get
that power with the lightness,
it's a really special thing.
When I'd made the decision
to get a black Clydesdale,
I got really interested in why
there were no black horses in the UK.
What happened to the black horses?
Where had they gone?
I'm on my way
to meet Shona Harrison,
whose partner, John Zawadski,
sadly died a few months ago.
John was a real expert
in the Clydesdale world
and he traveled up and down the UK
to visit different shows.
I think this is it.
Come into John's office.
I'd love to!
A lot of it's just as he left it
'cause its gonna take a long time
to go through things.
Just watch the steps.
Photographs galore.
Fantastic.
There's one called Grand National
that's used as a...
It's W Johnson, 1918.
I'm very interested in
how the horses change over the centuries.
They definitely have changed a lot.
Over here-
It's a very organized man.
As I was saying,
the breed histories are all down here.
Clydesdale Horse Society history.
All that up there's the history
of Clydesdale Horse Society.
Just amazing.
All the original documents
like newsletters, letters from the secretary,
that sort of thing.
I'm just amazed.
It's not at all what I expected.
So he's pieced together
all the stallion information.
This is going back decades
and decades, you know, like centuries.
It's a cornucopia.
I've never known anything like it.
Just glorious.
Gorgeous.
Shona's collection includes antique sales catalogs
from Scotland's most famous breeder
of Clydesdales, Lawrence Drew.
They are just exceptional.
I've never seen catalogs like this ever.
They are absolutely exceptional.
It's a sale catalog
for the Rolls Royces of horses.
Lawrence Drew, he knew
what he was doing.
You know, when you look
at Prince of Wales, I'm sure there must be a note
somewhere about his color
but he looks like a very black horse.
I've not seen a Clydesdale stallion
in the herd today
that looks like this horse.
Ross-o.
Mm-hmm?
This is the treat.
Oh my.
This is the catalog
for the dispersal sale
of Lawrence Drew's herd.
This is 150 years old.
That's amazing.
That's Prince of Wales,
one of the foundation sires.
And these are all drawn.
Wow,
It's just awesome.
What a size of a horse.
Look at that.
It's incredible.
And he has a lovely smile as well.
I would too I think if I were him.
I missed this the first time. And I looked at the next page,
and then I flicked back
and I found that.
Does this still exist?
I don't know.
Merryton was where the first Clydesdale horses
were really created.
So what happened to the black horses?
I started to dig.
I'm relieved to find
that Merryton is still a farm.
It looks like the baronial tower is
still there and many of the original buildings.
Merryton, this is
where Lawrence Drew had his operation.
He was absolutely clear
that his horses weren't
just to be beautiful.
They had to be functional
and, boy, they had to be sound.
Lawrence Drew, he was an entrepreneur.
He was a showman.
Drew knew where he was going
with the commercial part of the business.
Thousands of horses were exported
and because this was very much a business,
they were building a brand
and this was a big plan.
This was a worldwide plan.
This was about exporting
to Australia and Russia
and Italy and North America and Canada.
And the blacks had been exported
as being amongst the highest quality.
If Drew had lived,
I would just love to have seen
what he could have bred.
But he died hence the dispersal sale.
This sale would have drawn people
from all over the world.
And apparently 6,000 people attended it.
So all of his stock,
which was really, you know,
a treasure trove of the breed,
it was being dispersed throughout the world.
I had a hunch that,
because Clydesdale horses had been exported
that there was a package of genetic material
that had been exported with them.
I want to understand more
about the underlying health
of the Scottish herd
and get a snapshot of whether
or not our gene pool is healthy.
I quickly discovered that the UK
has a very small
and shrinking pool of Clydesdale horses
which means it's very hard
to keep the breed healthy in the future.
I looked a bit further
and started talking to people about it,
talking to the vets about it,
and they started telling me
about problems with the breed.
I started asking questions of the people
who bred the horses.
We lost five one year in a summer.
And they were telling me shocking stories
of the mortality rate
and issues with breeding,
like massively reduced fertility
in mares and stallions,
and increased foal mortality
which means there are simply fewer horses
and there's less genetic diversity.
Clear signals of the breed entering
what they call the extinction vortex.
And, unless you react quickly,
the whole breed can just collapse.
And that changed everything.
Everyone knows there's a problem
and nobody knows what the solution is,
and nobody wants to act first.
I just found it just incredibly sad.
So, I couldn't possibly not try
and do something about it.
I really needed to go
and speak to some scientists
to find out exactly what was happening.
The first thing we need
to find out is how healthy
is the herd in Scotland?
I'm gonna find somebody,
somebody who has the knowledge
to find out what's happening
and what needs to be done.
Secondly, we need to find out
if there is an issue with inbreeding.
And the most important question
is can the breed survive?
That is the really big question.
Hi, hi, I'm trying to get
through to Jessica Petersen.
Hi, Janice.
Thanks for taking this call.
I really appreciate it.
I'm really hoping that you can help
unravel this Clydesdale mystery.
I'm trying to understand
how viable the genetic population is
in our Clydesdale horses in Scotland.
I'm wondering if there's a way
that we can measure that,
if that would be something
that you could help with.
It seems like something
that we could get at using genetic data.
How diverse is this population?
Are the Scottish horses different
than North American horses?
So definitely something
that's up my alley.
Jessica has agreed to do a genetic study
of the Clydesdale populations
in the USA, Canada, and the UK.
And in order to do this,
she needs DNA from horses
in all three countries.
By collecting that DNA,
she can get a snapshot of the diversity
and therefore the health of the populations
in those respective countries.
So Jessica is gonna get 50 samples from Canada,
50 samples from the USA,
which leaves me
to get 50 samples from the UK.
And that gives us 150 hair follicle samples
which is 150 bits of horse DNA.
That should be great.
We should be good to go with that.
This is my little tool kit
for my genetic collections.
It requires the breeder
to provide a hair sample
of around 30 to 40 follicles
which are pulled from the mane or the tail.
I'm gonna do three horses this morning.
That's us.
That's our first sample.
So that's about 30, 40 hairs
with the roots in tact.
Stick that in an envelope.
What I'm gonna do
this afternoon is contact breeders
in the UK independently,
explain to them the project,
and ask them to participate.
Hi, it's Janice Kirkpatrick
trying to reach Caroline Reynolds
regarding the Clydesdale DNA information.
There's this feeling generally
within the kind of Clydesdale owners
in Scotland and in the UK
that everything's just okay.
You know, they see the horse
outside in the field
and the horse looks healthy
and I don't think we've quite got
the urgency of the situation.
But people have been actually
okay about it, saying,
"Yes, we will do it."
Thanks, thank you.
Need to count the bags.
One, two, three, four.
You're a star.
Thank you.
It would just really help.
16 samples.
Fantastic.
I'm sort of the individual
behind the Clydesdale project.
Another two.
I've got another two.
Ah.
Blackstone.
Thank you, Bob.
Two, three, four...36.
So far, so we need another 14.
Thank you so much.
Bye.
49, 50.
We actually have,
we have 50 samples.
We've got 50 samples.
That means that we've actually managed
to find enough DNA to do our survey
of the Clydesdale population.
It's really good.
This just came in the post
for you, Janice.
Oh, thanks, Zoe.
These are the results
of the DNA analysis.
Ah.
Data generated from these samples
support what you suspected.
Based upon the relative isolation
and small population size
of Clydesdales in Scotland,
they do have less diversity
than Clydesdales studied from North America.
And there is an increase in inbreeding
within the Scottish population.
Jessica, I've only skimmed it
but it seems that our hunch was right
that there is an issue with genetic diversity.
So, yes, the concern about
the Scottish population
being very small in size held true
in that inbreeding estimates
of the horses in Scotland
were generally quite a bit
higher than from horses in North America.
And that goes back again
to the small population size
where if there's just not
a whole lot of horses,
you're going to be mating relatives
to relatives whether or not
you are intending to do so.
For the first time, I think
we have definitive, scientific, genetic proof
that the Clydesdale herd
in Scotland is in danger.
We have to do something about it.
It suddenly dawned on me
that I could maybe bring
back some new genetic material,
new genetic Clydesdale material to Scotland
that would give it some diversity
and some sustainability.
The very best horses were exported
because they commanded the highest prices.
They were exported to Canada
from Glasgow, from Liverpool,
and then from Canada they went down
into the United States and South America.
When the genetic material was dispersed,
some pretty big herds
were founded across Canada,
and some of the black bloodlines
are in these herds today.
The black bloodlines that have their roots
in the old stud books in Scotland.
What I'm looking for is
a great-looking and great-performing
pregnant, breeding mare
so I can create black Clydesdale horses in Scotland.
I think the time has now come
for the horse to come back home
again to the place it was created.
It's important that I bring
a horse back into the UK
that is as different as possible
genetically from the horses
that we have at the moment.
Because by doing that,
I will strengthen and widen
and deepen the genetic pool.
Wow.
I've come to Saskatchewan
because there are descendants
of the original horses
that were exported
from Scotland to Canada
all these years ago.
Here we go.
We got some Clydesdales.
Such an amazing country.
It's so big and flat
and vast and endless.
It's so different from Scotland
and the land that we bred
those horses on originally.
With me I have got John Hankinson
who is a long-standing good friend.
He's an equine manipulator.
He's a master farrier.
He's got a whole bunch
of tools in his box.
Let's just go in this way.
Is this it?
We're here.
At last.
Janice, how we doin'?
Good to see you.
Good to see you.
This is John.
Hi there, how ya doin'?
This is Derek.
Nice to meet you.
Derek Cey is a family of Clydesdale breeders.
I think the 5th generation of Clydesdale breeding.
Come on.
Hello.
Hello.
This is great.
This is what I came here for.
Just like swimming with horses.
It's just brilliant.
Derek's herd is vast compared
to anything I can look at at home.
And it's very moving because
it evokes the images
of these huge studs that we had
in Scotland 100 years ago, 150 years ago.
It's just such a treat to see that.
I've gotta to be really objective.
When I see a horse I like,
I'll write down the name,
I'll take a photograph on my phone.
I want a horse
that has big hind quarters,
not fat hind quarters,
big muscular hind quarters
that's where the power comes.
The limbs have gotta be straight.
I also want a horse
that has got really
great rhythm, great movement,
that has got a kind
of cadence to its step.
Amber, 3-year old, she's got a little
bit of an attitude.
Can we take a closer look?
Yep, you betcha.
She caught my eye.
She caught John's eye.
And she's got nice shoulders,
all her zones are good.
She's actually got quite a nice rear end.
What do you think?
Yeah, I like her.
Yeah, yeah.
The other thing about Amber
is she is in foal.
Derek thinks it's Willow Way Nightlight
who is the big black stallion.
So that adds a different dimension,
he's quite a rare black bloodline
from an excellent herd of Clydesdales.
Lot o' check marks you got goin' there.
I like to see that book
when you're all done.
It's tiring.
'Cause you concentrate
and you think I mustn't mess this up.
I mustn't miss something.
So where do you keep your good ones, Derek?
You know how that worked?
So Janice, what are your thoughts?
I really liked Amber.
What did you think?
I think you've mentioned the one
that I've got on my sort of list
as being the prime candidate.
She's in foal, she's got the right attitude.
She's got a nice action.
She's good clean-limbed.
Looks to tick all the boxes.
She's at the moment the one
that I'm thinking is
probably the best one for you.
What's the plan now?
Are we gonna do hands on?
I think that would be a good idea.
I wanted a pair of eyes
on this horse and a pair of hands
on this horse.
John's a very, very good judge
of how a horse is put together physically.
So far, so good.
John's also got a good feel
for personalities.
This is good.
A hell of a girl.
I like this one.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Yeah.
Thank you, John.
She's a crackin' girl, isn't she?
Fabulous.
Hey good girl.
I think that really affected John.
Very rarely, he ever finds a horse
that tries so hard
that he was just amazed at this horse
which is really a wild horse
was trying so hard
to understand what he wanted.
Team hug.
Team hug.
Thank you.
I'm so pleased that you came with me.
That's the right horse.
Her energy is just amazing.
Hey there.
Yes, I've not organized it all
but yes we have a horse.
You are gonna love her.
John is absolutely in love with her,
like unbelievably in love with her.
What this horse is bringin'
over is a whole toolkit of genetic
lovely things that could take
the Scottish herd in different directions.
And that for me is really exciting.
This isn't just about even my lifetime.
This is about other peoples' lifetimes.
Of all breeds, the Clydesdale deserves a future.
So today is D-day.
Really is the conclusion of Amber's
journey over here.
She's had 3,000 kilometers by road
and then another 8 hour journey from Chicago.
It's been delayed for 5 hours
so she's gonna be fairly tired.
I'm really looking forward to seeing her.
My husband Ross hasn't seen her at all
so it's a big deal
for both of us really.
Amber coped ridiculously well
with the travel.
It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas.
I'm very relieved that she is so cool
with everything.
She's not phased by it so that's good.
Don't need your help.
You're such a pest.
This is our Canadian lady.
Don't be cheeky.
She's very cheeky.
I don't call my horses
by their pedigree names.
It's quite nice just
to hang with them
for awhile and find out
what their characters are like.
She just doesn't feel like an Amber.
She's not an amber light.
This horse is a full-on green light.
She was just so audacious
that I decided to call her Jesse James
after the outlaw.
Good girl, good girl.
We've got John Morris,
my local vet coming
to have a look at Jesse.
I'm knackered.
Is this your new girl, Janice?
This certainly is.
Good girl, good girl.
All right so these are identification
documents for the Clydesdale Horse Society.
She looks a very different type.
It's interesting to see
that there was another line
of Clydesdales differentiated in another country.
In terms of her pregnancy,
we don't know quite how far on she is.
It's really very difficult
to try and get a date.
It's not unusual to find that
people sit up for about two weeks
waiting for their mare to foal. And then they go to bed
because they're so tired
and then guess what happens,
they foal that night.
Are there any particular features
of a Clydesdale birth
as opposed to a normal horse birth?
Clydesdales can be more difficult.
If the foal's not
in the right position,
then they can get stuck.
Beyond that there's an inner sack.
Normally the foal bursts through that.
That's part of the birth process
but if the foal is born
and the sack is over its face
then it can't breathe.
It's quite scary stuff actually
especially when it's horses that you love.
If things go wrong,
they go terribly wrong.
and they go wrong very, very quickly.
I've got a very good imagination.
I'm very good at imagining horror stories.
One thing that's become really clear to me
about how we save the Clydesdale
is if we can't tie it
to a hopeful future, it will die.
I really want to create
the world center for this horse
that has got some permanence,
that's got some sustainability going forward.
It builds some value into the horses
so that there's a market for people
who want to buy them,
look after them, and enjoy them,
and keep breeding them.
The actual archway is 17th century.
I've not been here for years.
Absolutely years.
I think Pollok Park Stables are fabulous.
They are fabulous.
They are beautiful.
Early 18th century stables so they fit
entirely with the story of the Clydesdale.
It actually has done well.
It has.
To stay up so well.
The roof's not exactly straight
and I see the pigeons have moved in
but it's not the worst.
So these would be the original stables.
Tell a few stories.
Lots of teeth marks and foot marks,
but no horses.
It'd be great to get them back again.
Oh yes it would.
That's the plan.
Yes, I hope so.
Seems to me
that Pollok House Stables
is a bit of a gift
because it's right in the center of Glasgow
in the Clyde Valley,
the source of this amazing horse.
Pollok Park could be the thing
that helps save the Clydesdale.
Trying to keep sight of Jesse today
because she's really close to giving birth
and I don't want her to creep off
and give birth in the field shelter
or in some other corner of the field.
Because things happen really quickly
in foaling this is me being organized.
I didn't want to get caught up
in the action and not know what to do.
At what point does it get dangerous?
Just watching the time again,
the foal standing, sucking.
There's a 1, 2, 3 rule
which is foal standing within an hour,
sucking within 2 hours,
and placenta passed within 3 hours.
If anything goes wrong,
it goes catastrophically wrong,
very, very quickly.
We installed a little Wi-Fi camera
which is brilliant.
Because it connects to my mobile phone
or my other devices
and it means I can watch
what's happening in the foaling box
so I can check during the night
and just see where she's at.
If there's much movement,
the camera tells me there's movement.
All we can do now is wait.
I want to bring people together
who have an interest in the future
of the Clydesdale horse in Pollok Park.
Around 30% of Clydesdale foals
are dying from a range of disorders
commonly associated with a diminishing
population and a thinning gene pool.
And compared to most
other common horse breeds,
deaths are really rare.
So 30% is a huge number
and it's heartbreaking.
It's heartbreaking for breeders
and it's heartbreaking for the mares
who can carry their foals
for a year before they give birth.
We can do something about it.
What I'd like to do now is
to explore how we might create
a sustainable world center
here in Pollok Park.
Pollok Stables, something that's vibrant,
that's world class.
I have been involved in this project.
It makes sense to me
and this is the moment
when I discover if it is
actually going to make sense
to anybody else.
So there's a lot riding on it.
All breeders as well,
I think we actually need
to work as one.
We need to research old methods,
try to find a way to replicate,
not look what's missing.
We're seeing how important it is
to have somebody like Janice
who has the energy and drive
to just say to people, "Let's do it."
The urgency of the situation
is to sort the gene pool out
and have a breeding plan
that will ensure the health
of the continuity of this breed.
It was really good,
really positive, really positive.
I really feel that we can make something happen.
I feel very good about it.
You know when something feels right.
You just know it.
Hi there.
It's Janice Kirkpatrick at Lindsayston.
I have a mare
who I think might foal tonight.
Thank you.
Thanks.
It got to half past five
in the morning and nothing.
So I went back to sleep.
I don't like lookin' back
at that bit of film very much.
The foal can't breathe on her own yet
because her face is completely covered
in this amniotic sack
that has to be removed.
And Jesse needs to break the sack.
She needs to do it quickly
so the foal doesn't suffocate.
Jesse just instinctively knows
that she's gotta get the sack
off the face of her foal
and help her breathe.
Woke up again, 10 past 6
and there's this little white face
peering out from the straw.
Absolutely shocked.
It was like,
where the hell did that come from?
Ross was going, "There's a face!
There's a face!"
Hello!
It's not up yet.
It just happened.
We'd better phone the vet.
Can you phone John for me?
John? Who's John?
There's an awful lot of blood.
Um...
The, the vet!
That's a wee girl.
A wee girl.
That's a good girl.
Yes.
That's your mum.
When Jesse was pregnant,
I was convinced that this foal
wanted be called Snowy
and Ross thought I was mad.
She's got a big white face
and she's this weird lavender color
with flecks of white through her coat
so she is quite a snowy horse.
She'll go pretty much black.
Thanks for coming over John.
I really appreciate it.
Has the foal been up yet?
No, not yet.
She's finding it really hard to stand.
And we've just been doing a combination
of letting her sleep.
She then gets up,
she can actually latch
onto the teat now
but she can't stand for long.
She's so slippery.
We really want to get Snowy
standing so that she can suckle
from Jesse and get milk, especially
the first milk which is called
colostrum which has got
antibodies in it which will help
build her immune system.
And that's one of the things
that can cause mortality in foals,
is not getting enough colostrum.
We thought, oh, my God,
something's going wrong here.
The structure of the foal's stomach
changes after eight hours
and it becomes impossible
for the foal then to benefit
from this immunity given to it
by its mothers milk.
John wants to make sure
that we've got her immune system
kicked in so he's going to,
he's putting a tube into her stomach
and putting in quite
a lot of colostrum.
He's got to be very careful
to get the tube into the stomach,
not the lungs.
See it there?
Yeah.
And if we can see it...
Yeah.
It's in the right place.
It means it's not in the airway.
It's way down here.
Snowy's snoring and drinking
at the same time.
Just pull it off.
That's good.
There we go.
Well done.
So all that milk in you,
you're going to be strong now.
There we go.
Now she's had some colostrum,
the biggest problem is getting
them up and getting them sucking
within a reasonable amount of time.
Yeah, good girl.
Up we go
Get it right here,
you're a wee bit
too far back again.
She's going for the right bit.
It's always in my mind that
I could lose a foal,
I could lose a mare.
I really, really, really want
this foal to suckle.
The sooner she can stand up
on her own and suck, the better.
If only she could stand
on her own, it would be perfect.
Whoa!
And we're up!
Oh!
That's it.
Are you going to be a big grey girl?
Are you?
Are you going to be a black roan?
Are you going to be black?
Have you got little teeth?
Are these your teeth?
They're tiny teeth.
Imagine having tiny little teeth like that.
Yeah.
I think I've achieved way more
than I ever set out to do.
Atta girl.
Good girl.
I asked a fairly simple question
about why there were
no black horses in the UK.
I got a much bigger,
deeper, wider answer
which gave us a clear indication
of what we need to do
to save this breed.
And there are many other people
who have joined me
who also see the potential in this horse.
Come on, Janice.
I believe I've at least started the journey
of helping them flourish again.
Now how could you not be excited
about something that was created
in this place?
We need to be proud of it
and own it and embrace it
and make sure
it has a bright, shiny future.