Tors Benefactor arrives from Scotland to stay Co Londonderry with Mr James Blair (1964)

News Letter

We are delighted to have the old clips from our friends at Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive. This week's clip is from about Clydesdale horses from 1964 and is courtesy of UTV © ITV. The notes to this clip read: “A beautiful Clydesdale horse, Tors Benefactor, arrives from Scotland to stay with Mr James Blair in Co Londonderry and to breed some of his mares. Charlie Witherspoon interviews Mr Blair and asks what makes a good Clydesdale. Mr Blair explains that Tors Benefactor has been brought over by the Co Londonderry Horse Breeding Society. He is one of the top Clydesdales in the country. Charlie also meets with Bill Blair, James’s son, who hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps.”  Do you recall any old Clydesdales from around the country? Did you get to see them ploughing at bygone matches? Do you have any old films from bygone ploughing matches? We would love to see them. Get in touch via darryl.armitage@nationalworld.com. See more films at www.digitalfilmarchive.net Twitter – @NIScreen Facebook – @northernirelandscreen Instagram – @northernirelandscreen #DigitalFilmArchive #NorthernIrelandScreen

Transcript

00:00 Mr Blair, there must be well over a ton of horse here.

00:09 Why did you bring them over from Scotland?

00:11 Well, we brought them for to breed some good cledsdales, I hope.

00:15 We're expecting they'll do us a lot of good here.

00:17 The County London Dairy Horse Breeding Society always brings over a cledsdale stallion every

00:23 year from Scotland.

00:25 I think this is the best we've had for some time.

00:27 Well, just how famous is Torr's benefactor?

00:29 Well, he's a very famous horse.

00:31 He has been breeding some pretty good ones in Scotland and fighting this past show season

00:39 at the stallion show in Glasgow.

00:42 He was sire of the quarter cup winner there.

00:46 You have cledsdale mares on the farm yourself?

00:49 Yes, I have.

00:50 And you expect to get some results from these marriages?

00:53 I hope so anyway.

00:54 I hope so.

00:55 That's what we have them here for.

00:56 They do us a lot of good.

00:57 I hope they will do.

00:58 I think they will do.

00:59 What are the characteristics of a good cledsdale?

01:02 The points the expert looks out for?

01:04 Well, the first thing we look for is a nice flat bone, plenty of it, a good bone and plenty

01:10 of it.

01:11 Then we like to see good furnishings such as nice hair and plenty of it.

01:16 We look for always plenty of it and it's hard to keep on some of them.

01:20 That's one of their failures.

01:22 The hair won't just stay with them.

01:24 Well, another thing we look for is good action in the cledsdale.

01:27 Now, what do you mean by good action?

01:29 Well, a good two movers such as close behind and good movement in front, good bend of knee

01:34 and that type of thing.

01:36 And I think we have it all here.

01:45 But James Blair isn't the only cledsdale expert on the farm.

01:50 His son Bill is carrying on the tradition and he's starting early.

01:54 Hello Bill.

01:56 Is this your mare?

01:57 Yes.

01:58 What do you call her?

01:59 Blossom.

02:00 And are you hoping to get a good foal from Torr's benefactor?

02:02 Well, we're hoping that anyway.

02:05 Well if you do, what are you going to do with it?

02:08 Just depends.

02:09 Uh-huh.

02:10 Would you like to show them like your daddy?

02:13 Yes, I would.

02:15 What age are you?

02:16 Ten years.

02:17 Ten?

02:18 Do you not think you're starting a wee bit young at this game?

02:21 Well, I'm not just taking it seriously but I'm only showing them for fun.

02:29 Good.

02:30 Well I hope you get a first class foal Bill.

02:32 Thank you very much.

02:35 Just one final question Mr Blair.

02:37 Why do people breed cledsdales nowadays?

02:40 Is it to work them or export them or what?

02:42 Well, a lot of people breed more or less for a hobby at the minute but there's still a

02:46 market for a good cledsdale horse.

02:48 There's still a plenty of market and demand in Canada for them.

02:53 There's a lot of people send them there and gets good prices yet.

02:56 There's still money to be made at them for a good one.

02:57 Thank you.

02:58 Thank you.

02:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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