Wullie Gemmell takes a trip down memory lane in Galloway People

Get the latest Daily Record breaking news on WhatsApp

Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info

Join us on WhatsApp

If ever there was a Galloway man steeped in the traditions of the land, it’s Wullie Gemmell.

He and his family, and his father before him, have been regular fixtures at local agricultural shows for more than 30 years with their beautifully turned out Clydesdales.

An incredible amount of work goes into getting the horses ready for the big day and the sheer joy of showing them off at their best outranks any silverware and rosettes that happen to come their way.

Not that there’s been a shortage of that of late.

Wullie, along with niece Laura McKie – to whom, he tells me, most of the credit is due – have collected an armful of trophies in recent years, notably champion of champions at the Stewartry Show in 2022.

At 61 Wullie is still farming on the land his forebears began to work close on a century ago, at east and west Crosherie, Drumbeg and the Holm near Kirkcowan.

“My mother Margaret’s parents were William and Helen Young, and William came to the Holm from Kilwinning when he was 16.

“He left when he was 76 – and said he had lifted stones off the fields for 60 years and there was not one less than when he came!” he says.

“To begin with the farm was rented from the McInnes brothers, who lived down south, and he eventually bought it.

“When my father got married to my mum in 1955 they moved from the Holm to Drumbeg, which marches onto the Holm.

“Before that he had been on a croft, Woodside, at Torhousemuir near Wigtown.

“At Drumbeg, which was 235 acres with a lot of rough ground, they had a byre for 20 cows, a shed of turnips and a barn of hay, and cut rashes to thatch the stooks.

“All the five of us, my sisters Helen, Mary, Margaret, Jean and me – I’m the youngest – were all born at Drumber.

“They were all home births in those days.

“Drumbeg was one and three quarter miles from the main road so you had to find your own way down.

“My family came to the Holm in 1970, when I was nine.

“It had 150 acres but was better land and in 1978 we acquired east Crosherie and west Crosherie in 1983.

“We still have quite a bit of Drumbeg as well.”

Wullie takes pride in the way the Holm was run, which like many smaller Galloway farms and holdings, was a model of sustainability.

“We only had 50 dairy cows, because that was all that the land could carry,” he says.

“All the fodder was grown on the place – we were totally self-sufficient.

“We bought nothing in, no feed, except maybe a bit of coo-cake, which back then came from Wyllie’s Mill in Garlieston.

“The cows would get bruised barley, corn (oats), turnips and hay – no silage.

“The Holm was dairy while he had sheep and suckler cows on Drumbeg and Crosherie.

“We only had 20 cows to start with but built them up steadily and have 80 these days, along with 320 breeding ewes.”

So what’s the story behind the Clydesdales of the Holm, I ask Wullie.

“Well, the horses were not here when I came,” he begins.

“My father had worked with them and ploughed with them as a young man at Drumbeg.

“Long after, when he got into his sixties he was aye saying he was getting a horse at the Holm – but never did.

“My father said he wanted one to remind him of what he had when he was younger and fitter.

“Then my sister Helen, who was a milk recorder, was down in the Stewartry at Wilsons of the Screel at Gelston.

“Sam Wilson mentioned to her that she was selling a Clydesdale – he knew that my dad always had a notion of buying one.

“And when Helen told my father that was that – me and him went down to the Screel and bought her.

“That would be about 1990.

“He was fair taken on with getting a horse – he talked to her and fed her every morning.

“It was his pride and joy, that first mare.”

Wullie has fond memories – that much is obvious – of how the bond between the Holm and Scotland’s native breed of heavy horse blossomed over the years.

“In time we got one or two more mares and put them to the stallion, and got some foals,” he explains.

“The first fully registered mare at the Holm we bought from Smith of The Lowes at Moniaive in a sale at Newton Stewart.

“Then we bought others from McDermott of Dumfries and James Thompson at Ingleston Mains at Moniaive.

“Ingleston Crystal was a foal when we bought her at New Galloway Show.”

The mare has a special place in the Holm’s long association with the Clydesdale breed not least, Wullie tells me, because she is still going strong and enjoying a quiet life on the green pastures on the banks of the River Bladnoch.

“She’s 19 now and the grandmother of all the ones that are there now,” he says.

“And as time went on we sold the odd one.

“One foal I remember was weak when he was born and would not suckle.

“If it had not been for Arlene that foal would have died.

“We put him for sale on the internet and a woman from the Isle of Lewis bought him to be ridden – and the ironic thing was the foal’s name was Louis!”

There has been loss too, hard to bear, one sad death still fresh in Wullie’s memory.

“We had one of ain that died,” he says quietly.

“She came racing down the hill at Hugh Ramsay’s at Millisle at Garlieston – she was at the stallion there – and just collapsed.

“Hugh was kinda done about it and we brought the horse home and buried her at the Holm.”

Showing horses takes patience, hard work and a lot of know-how, Wullie says, and the Gemmell family is hugely grateful for all the help they received along the way, not least from Hugh,

“He kept us right, what to do and what not to do,” he smiles.

“He was a regular at Wigtown with his Clydesdale team and that’s what got my dad started in showing.

“Tam Tweedie the farrier did the work at Millisle and he was very knowledgeable too.

“Both of them really knew a horse.

“Our first show was Wigtown in about 2000 and a few years later we did a thing for Border TV about having the Clydesdales.”

Wullie, who lives with wife Irene at Crosherie, is determined to do all he can to make sure Clydesdales remain part of the living Galloway landscape.

“It’s important to keep the breed going,” he says simply.

“If you don’t they will become extinct.

“There’s not that many in Scotland now, apart from exhibitions.

“What’s helping now is that they are used for riding and there are special ridden classes for Clydesdales at the Highland Show.

“That provides another outlet for selling them.

“Keeping a driving team going is really expensive but have just a horse and a saddle costs a lot less.

“The horses are not ill to feed.

“They don’t take much more than cows will – a wee pickle of hay and a bucket of horse feed mix.

“The biggest problem is maintaining their feet and keeping them clean.

“They are really happiest outside but a foal would probably be wintered inside, and in better weather outdoors during the day and brought in at night.

“But as they get older the horses can fend for themselves.”

Wullie tells me there are four Clydesdales currently at the Holm, all mares – with more likely on the way – and they will follow in some illustrious hoofprints.

“Two of the mares are probably in foal,” he says,

“We go to all the local shows, the furthest away being Moffat.

“Depending on the timing its Stewartry on the last Saturday in July, the Stranraer on the last Wednesday.

“After that it’s Wigtown, Dumfries, Glenkens and Moffat.

“We’ve had a tremendous year this year, and that followed on from the previous two years.

“Holmhead Molly was champion of champions at Stewartry in 2022 and her foal Holmhead April Blossom was with her.

“Blossom was the only one we showed this year and she was champion Clydesdale at Stranraer, Stewartry and Moffat, and champion of champion at Glenkens.

“Arlene keeps their feet right by oiling them two or three times a week to keep the water out – it’s a mix of sulphur and pig oil.

“They are also brushed regularly to keep the hair in good condition.

“You put the cows out with them and they just wander right through them.”

These days the prizewinning Clydesdales are a big attraction at the Holm with passing motorists stopping to take photos or feed them apples – but equine fame hasn’t changed Wullie’s philosophy.

“One of the first things my father told me was if you are going up the ladder of success be nice to everybody, because you’ll meet them on the way back down!” he laughs.

“You get a lot of pleasure out of taking the horses to shows because a lot of folk want to see them.

“They are a big attraction and they have a big following – people always look out for the Clydesdales.

“My father liked nothing better that telling folk ‘this is my horse’.

“The Clydesdales will be at the Holm for a while yet.”

Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.