Russell M. Middleton - Clydesdale Horse
This site originally published in MICHIGAN.
Any Browser.org Russell M. Middleton
Click to go Home 		Valid XHTML 1.0!

The Muckle Horse

"There's something about the outside of a horse that's good for the inside of a man." — Sir Winston Churchill

The first horse I remember meeting was 'Duke' during the Summer of 1958. He had belonged to my father since before WWII and lived on my grandfather's farm near Rutland, Saskatchewan, Canada. I was eight years old and spent hours climbing all over Duke like a jungle-jim. He was amazingly patient with me yet when my dad went to ride him, he danced around making it quite difficult to get on. I eventually realized what an intelligent animal a horse was, weighing over a thousand pounds and capable of launching me into the next life, but understanding the difference between a child and an adult.

Whether my affinity for horses was a gift from my dad, who always pointed out horses where ever we would travel. Or that I was a ploughman in a former life I canna say. But because I broke into sobbing hysterics the first time I heard 'The Last Trip Home' by the Battlefield Band on their album Leaving Friday Harbor, I have no doubt of an inexplicably strong tie between my heart and 'the muckle horse'.

Clydes at work
Image © Clydesdale Horse Society, 2001

Battlefield Band

Album: Leaving Friday Harbor

Released: August 1999

Track 2. The Last Trip Home

[Note: The lyrics below link to an 878KB 'mp3' file and open another browser window so you can return to this page and follow along. Transcribed by Russell M. Middleton.]

As I worked on farms an fae the start,
the muckle horses won ma heart.
With big broad backs they proudly stand,
the uncrowned kings o aw the land.
And yet for aw their power and strength
thay'r as gentle as a summer's wind.

So steady boys, walk on,
oor work is nearly done,
no more we'll till or plough the fields,
the horses day is gone,
and this will be yer last trip home,
so steady boys, walk on.

Though you'll hear men sing their songs of praise,
of Arab stallions an their race,
or hunter flag fly wi the hounds,
they chase the fox and run him down.
But none of them, compare I vow,
ta ah workin pair, that pulls a plough.

So steady boys, walk on,
oor work is nearly done,
no more we'll till or plough the fields,
the horses day is gone,
and this will be yer last trip home,
so steady boys, walk on. 		And aw the years I've plied ma trade,
an aw the fields we ploughed and laid,
I never thought I'd see the time,
a Clydesdale's work would ever end,
but progress runs a thriven course
and tractors hae replaced the horse.

So steady boys, walk on,
oor work is nearly done,
no more we'll till or plough the fields,
the horses day is gone,
and this will be yer last trip home,
so steady boys, walk on.

As we head back, friends hae lined
the road to be there one last time.
An nane o them would want tae miss,
a chance tae see us pass like this.
They'll say they saw, in years tae come,
the muckle horse's last trip home.

So steady boys, walk on,
oor work is nearly done,
no more we'll till or plough the fields,
the horses day is gone,
and this will be yer last trip home,
so steady boys, walk on,
oor work is nearly done,
no more we'll till or plough the fields,
the horses day is gone,
and this will be yer last trip home,
so steady boys, walk on.

Call me a sentimental old fool, but the words "oor work is nearly done" and 'this will be yer last trip home' sends a chill through my heart. To contemplate the number of gentle giants sent prematurely to the glue factory when displaced by the internal combustion engine is too much to bear. "...a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."

See also:

THE LAST O' THE CLYDESDALES

by Archie Webster

Source: Electric Scotland — The largest and most comprehensive site on the history and culture of Scotland and the Scots at home and abroad. — Alastair McIntyre, FSA Scot

See as well:

Gentle Giants - A Celebration Of The Clydesdale Horse In Song

 Contact Me about this page. All rights reserved. © Rm² 2003