00:00We came here about 37 years ago, my husband and I, just after I got married, and we brought one Clydesdale up from down at my parents' down at Wigtonshire.
00:10And we just had a foal and we started the prefects Peggy Slea Clydesdales then.
00:16And for a few years we used to ponies and we always just had a foal every year, Clydesdale foal every year.
00:23And then when Niels got a bit older we got into the driving.
00:27So you'd be about 16 then.
00:30And we got into the driving and then riding, so and it's just gradually, we've just gradually got more horses.
00:38It came from my father, like I was born into it. He lives down in South West Scotland and he had Clydesdales all his life.
00:46Worked on the farm, worked the horses when I left the school.
00:52At that time it was just changing over for tractors. We didn't have a tractor at that time.
01:00But shortly after that, a year or two after that we had. We did all the work on the farm with them.
01:07All the seeding, all the ploughing. We did all the work with Clydesdales.
01:13Once the tractors came in, the horses went off. Right? And that was them.
01:17I thought odd ones had come back on, you know, into the farms.
01:20But never had horses maybe for 20 years, 30 years, 40 years.
01:26But they come back. They're odd ones, didn't you know. But we'll be one of the few that had horses forever.
01:35We walked them in the farm right up to about the 80s. Oh, I never used the tractor.
01:40Driving side, showing side, that didn't come to later. So we weren't using the horses so much in the farm then.
01:48So I came a wee bit later. But no, just one of these things that was just born in me.
01:57A hobby. It started just as a hobby. I studied the local shows and went a wee bit wider.
02:04This year I showed at the Highland was 60 years this year. That was the first year.
02:09Yes, I always used young horses. I just like bringing them on and somebody wanted to buy one.
02:14I sold it on and either bought another young one or bred one.
02:19So we grew up with it. And I think the big thing is because we usually buy them,
02:24either breed them or buy them as yearlings and we bring them on. And so it's the thing,
02:30we break them in like from three year olds. And it's nice to see them, you know,
02:35when you first break them in until you see them in the show ring. That's the thing I get out of them,
02:40you know, just to see how they're going and how they've progressed. And, you know,
02:45from a wee one running about in the field to them in the show ring, pulling a carriage.
02:52This is just the second year he's not actually driven at the Highland show and that's him been
02:57showing for 60 years. So a long time. So 58 years he's been driving it.
03:03They all helped me. All my family, my son and my three daughters. They did. They went with me and helped me.
03:12And it worked for there. I won my last six horse team when I was 80.
03:21I was 80. Well, I could get up onto the wagon then, but I can't even know.
03:26Well, I went to the World Clydesdale Show in America. I was in Canada that year,
03:34wherever it was, wherever it was. And then I came straight back into London and went to Buckingham
03:39Palace to get the MBA. Oh, unreal. Fantastic. Getting photographs and seeing the palace.
03:47Oh, very good. Excellent. Sister, sister does it. Older sister. So she's continuing on with the horses,
03:55my father's horses. I've been doing it ever since, well, ever since I was born. Mum took me around the
04:00shows with her. So I was just kind of growing up with the love of it really. And I'm very lucky that
04:05Mum's let me do a lot more than what a lot of people do. A lot of people want to hang on to it for
04:10years before they hand it over to another family member. So she's let me do a lot more,
04:14which has got me a lot more encouraged and enjoy it a lot more. She doesn't drive at six. She just
04:18drives up there for her. But it ails her up. She drives at six. She's very keen. Oh, yes. I enjoy
04:28watching them. Criticise a bit. Good criticism. First time. I never went to the Highland Show until maybe
04:34I was about 16. 16, yeah. Remember the first Highland Show. It was great fun because we could stay away.
04:41It was great fun staying away from home. I think it's definitely a woman thing. I think it's nice
04:45to see that a woman's driving. So it's nice to get another woman out there driving, especially
04:50younger ones as well, because the people you're competing against are like,
04:54don't know, like 50-year-old men who've been doing it for years. So it's nice to show that
04:59younger generation can do it. And it's especially females as well. A lot of females now used to be
05:06that you very rarely ever saw a female in the show ring. But now we're getting a good few.
05:12It's very good for the sport. It's good for the Clisela horse.
05:16When I first ever drove my first ladies cart at the Highland Show, he kindly let me borrow his
05:21practice one because I didn't have one at that time. And it was orange. And we were the only orange
05:26cart in the ring out of about 20 odd carts. And I thought this was brilliant that no one else is
05:30orange. And you got fairly noticed. So then for my 21st birthday, Mum and Dad bought me a cart and
05:35asked me what colour and it had to be orange. Shows are just as big as the Highland Show. This one
05:40might seem a bit bigger because it's like our local big show. So there's a lot of family and friends
05:44that come along as well. But they just get treated the same as if you go to Suffolk, Three Counties,
05:49New Forest. It's just the same prep. What prep goes into getting them ready? Quite a lot,
05:53actually, because it takes months before because we have to get them all fed properly so that they've
06:00got enough weight on to show. And with the driving horses, we start in January to get them ready,
06:07you know, to get them fit to go around the ring. And then just before the show, we give them all a
06:12good bath and wash all over, maybe two baths sometimes if it's just the first show, wash all
06:18their legs and get them ready. We don't obviously pleat them up or do any of their tails until we
06:25get to the show. But it's just getting out everything, getting them in the right condition
06:31for a show, you know. So they have to be fed twice a day and just plait your food into them really,
06:38isn't it? Yeah, and mostly they have the weight and the stamina to get you around the ring as well.
06:43Nothing worse if you're going around the ring and your horse isn't fit enough and it can't pull the
06:47carriage. It's a little bit embarrassing as well. We normally take a six horse team but this year
06:53with the baby, we're only taking a four horse team and we're taking one in hand. I'm probably
06:59quite excited and you just want them to do well, you know, when you get in the ring and come out,
07:04you know, just have a good drive. That's the main thing, you know. It's, sometimes it does do
07:10well. As long as you have a good drive, that's what matters. I get excited. I also get quite nervous
07:15because I'm now the driver for the team, so it's like, it's not just yourself, you are the driver,
07:20but it's the team behind you that's working just as hard as you are, so you don't want to let anyone
07:24down. You go to try and win, but if you didn't win, that's it. You don't bother. There's so much
07:34bickering, you know, between competitors and that. I thought they were out for the word go to, when
07:42you come out of the ring, that's who finished. For the in hand, it's confirmation of the horse,
07:47so they want them to be straight in the front and to be close behind when they're walking and trotting,
07:53a nice flat bone. But then the only, the hard bit is every judge has got a different opinion,
08:00so you, what you think you could have your best horse, the judge might not think so, so it's,
08:04that's one, one hard thing about what we do. But then, then when we're driving, it's, you've got to
08:11have them pretty, so for them to sort of look like each other, good matches and be quite cocky,
08:17their head up and lift their legs and just be nice picture to the eye, you know, just,
08:24and they work as a team, yeah. We're all looking for the same thing, uniformity and
08:31that type of thing and all going together and, you know, properly handled, the driver has to handle
08:39them properly. The show was our favourite part when he was driving and we weren't able to be in the ring
08:44with him or anything. The best part was when he came out the ring was getting to jump on the cart
08:48on the way out the ring. That was our, that was the highlight of the day, was getting to jump on
08:52the cart with him and drive back down to the lorry. Atmosphere at the Royal Highland and some of the
08:58big shows really have an atmosphere and you don't like missing them. Well my definitely, from mine,
09:03is definitely driving my first ever six horse team at the Highland show and my grandpa's there to watch.
09:08That was definitely the highlight. It's really nice to catch up with all our friends.
09:12Yeah, because you want to win in the ring but once you come out the ring,
09:15it doesn't matter who's won or lost, you'll all go round to someone's lorry and have a good party.
