Rare-breed foal brightens dark days at Centre suffering without income

A Clydesdale foal that was born during the coronavirus epidemic at a heavy horse center and was struggling financially has turned out to be a glimmer of hope.

The owners of the non-profit Hay Farm Heavy Horse Centre in Northumberland, Viv Cockburn and her daughter Anna, were overjoyed to welcome a healthy colt to their Clydesdale mare Primrose on Sunday, May 10.

Viv revealed to H&H that Teddy, a rare black Clydesdale horse who was also born and raised at the center, father Primrose’s first offspring, a 10-year-old Primrose.

And his arrival is good news for the breed, which the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) has designated as vulnerable.

“The Suffolk is in a bad way, but there’s a lot of activity going on there, which is really good, but the Clydesdale is teetering a bit,” Viv added. It appears that many mares are purchased for riding rather than breeding, which has an effect.

The center was founded around six years ago when the family, who had always had large horses, realized that even people who weren’t horseback riders enjoyed seeing them.