Some years ago, the Clydesdale Horse Society could have been accused of being like the Tory Party - an ageing and increasingly pensioner orientated membership (although without the blue rinse brigade!). In all seriousness however, the traditional skills associated with looking after and dressing out a Clydesdale Horse were ones that literally were at risk of being lost as the older generation took their knowledge to the grave with them.

There were a few die-hard families where the skills were handed down from generation to generation, but for many farming youngsters there was no incentive to be interested in the horses - teenagers found other past-times more alluring!

The Clydesdale Horse Society was very aware of this and in looking for ways to encourage the future generations, they came up with the idea of a Young Handlers Competition, with qualifying classes at local and county shows throughout the whole of the UK and Northern Ireland. The final of this event was initially held at the Winter Fair in November of each year, but it has now moved to the prestigious Royal Highland Show, Scotland's premier agricultural event, which is held in June of each year at the wonderful, permanent show ground at Ingliston, just adjacent to Edinburgh Airport on the western outskirts of the city.

The young handlers have to be between 12 and 16 years of age on the day of their qualifying show. Competition between them all is very keen and they consider it a matter of considerable kudos just to qualify for the final. All qualifiers get a handsome bronze medal of a Clydesdale's head and an engraved inscription noting their success. This class at the Royal Highland always attracts a large crowd of enthusiasts and "Joe Public" alike who marvel at the way in which the kids handle the gentle giants.

The winner in 1997 was the youngest entrant, Philly Stephen (14) from Edinburgh, with the previous winner being Colin Wilson (16) from Castle Douglas. This is one area where the sexes can compete on an equal basis and brothers are often pitted against brothers and sisters against sisters. In certain cases the traditional Clydesdale family names feature in the competition - in other cases the names are "new" - some are incomers to the breed, others it turns out are actually grandchildren of dyed-in-the wool enthusiasts, kids who think Clydesdales are "cool" in the 1990s. Some of these children too, like Philly Stephen, have been brought up in Scotland's bigger cities - but they like nothing better than to escape the hustle and bustle and head to farms belonging to various relatives, and the horses.

It was also recognised that as the cut-off age for the Young Handlers at 16 left nothing else for the youngsters to move on to, something else had to be devised. In consequence a Young Stockmen's class is now also run at the Royal Highland Show for entrants up to 20 years of age.

In this class, the competitors have to start from scratch and wash and dress out a horse within one and a half hours, and then present the animal for showing. Despite fair 'dreich' (Scottish for cold, wet and miserable) weather during the class at the 1997 Royal Highland, the kids attracted a very large crowd who stood and watched the class in its entirety - those who had never seen the skills before were amazed by the amount of hard work that is actually involved and at the dexterity necessary for the plaiting and dressing of the tails and those who cast an expert eye over the proceedings were only to happy to admit that across the board the sdtandard of work was extremely professional. In 1997 Colin Wilson triumphed in this class followed by Mairi McMillan from Rothesay who comes from a very well known Clydesdale family and then Philly Stephen just pipped her elder sister Nicki into third place.

1998 sees all the same competitors lining up to do battle' with each other again - they will be on show on Sunday 28 June from 12.30 through until 2pm, when they will be followed by the Young Handlers - some kids can and do take part in both classes... they all want the substantial pieces of silverware that are awarded to grace the sideboard for the next year!