Clydesdale breeder

TV star Pete Black on preserving the Clydesdale legacy through his family's Collessie Stud, the art of silky feathers and how the breed tugs a different heartstring to any other

- Jennifer Donald

There’s no secret formula to successful breeding, just hard work and attention to detail. I’ve learnt it all from the Boss Cat, my father Ronnie. All his skill and adaptation to the breeding game has led us here. Everyone thinks their horses are better than everyone else’s, but we should also see their weaknesses to know where to develop the next generation.

I found ponies brilliant as a kid, but my riding days are long gone. I rode point-to-point for a season, aged 16 – it was awesome fun and if I’d been a bit lighter, I might have done it a bit longer.

The excitement of what could be at the start of every foaling season is the reason we all do it. We’re standing two stallions this year and have 13 mares in foal.

Ian Young’s Arradoul Balvenie has been our top stock-getting sire for a few years. He’s 15, but as fresh as paint. Then we have a young stallion, Collessie Monarch, whose oldest crop are two. His son Collessie ET is an embryo transfer from our flagship mare Collessie Jennifer, so hopefully his progeny will excite us, too.