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Stephen Montoya
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Stephen Montoya
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Stephen Montoya
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Stephen Montoya
The eight-horse team of Budweiser Clydesdales looked right at home on East Exchange Avenue as the unit of two drivers, including a Dalmatian, followed the morning cattle drive.
Most anywhere else this scene might seem out of place, and little out of time. However, this is not the first time a team of horses pulling a wagon strolled down Exchange, and it will most certainly not be the last.
The duo driving the team of horses were very gracious as they stopped in front of the Cowtown Coliseum so Stockyards attendees could photograph and take video of this iconic marketing tool of Anheuser-Busch.
The Clydesdales’ visit was part of the kickoff to Fort Worth’s Major League Baseball All-Star Weekend. The league’s first-year player draft will be conducted at Cowtown Coliseum on Sunday starting at 6 p.m., though there will be events going on all afternoon, beginning at noon.
The All-Star Game is Tuesday at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
“I have been a hitch driver out here for Budweiser for seven years,” says Alec Smith, a Clydesdale hitch driver who stopped for some pictures while enjoying a moment in the shade. “I grew up doing this type of work, so even [at] a young age I have been driving horses. But once you come out here to the world-renowned Budweiser Clydesdales, it's a sight unseen.”
Smith and his fellow hitch drivers are maintaining a more than 90-year tradition that dates to 1933. This was the same year August A. Busch Jr. and Adolphus Busch III surprised their father August Busch Sr. with a six-horse Clydesdale hitch as a gift in honor of the repeal of Prohibition.
Realizing the marketing potential, Budweiser arranged to have the new team of horses sent to New York City to present former New York governor Alfred E. Smith with a case of beer.
Word got out about this roving billboard, which soon spawned a tour of New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. The Clydesdales even went to the White House in April 1933 to deliver a case of beer to President Franklin Roosevelt. The six-horse team soon increased to eight, and in March 1950 a Dalmatian was added as the Clydesdale’s mascot.
After stopping in front of Cowtown Coliseum, the Clydesdales were swiftly moved forward to set up for a photo opportunity under the “Fort Worth Stockyards” sign.
Smith, who’s been driving these massive creatures for nearly a decade says, “It’s all in the fingertips.”
“Each horse has a brain; I mean, it's not like a vehicle where you're in full control. You’re kind of trying to help guide something with a brain of its own,” he says. “You have to somehow, someway, with your fingertips and a piece of leather, make that horse understand what you're trying to anticipate. So, it takes extensive mind training for you and the horses to kind of help steer in the right direction.”
In preparation for events like these, it takes a team of handlers to oversee the Clydesdales’ needs. Expert groomers travel on the road with the hitch at least 10 months out of the year. Another team oversees their diet; each hitch horse will consume as much as 20 to 25 quarts of whole grains, minerals, and vitamins, 50 to 60 pounds of hay, and up to 30 gallons of water on a warm day.
But the pampering doesn’t end there. When it comes time for the horses to travel, 10 horses are packed up along with the beer wagon and other essential equipment, in three 50-foot trailers. Air-cushioned suspension and thick rubber flooring in the trailers ease the rigors of traveling. And, according to the Anheuser-Busch website, the team stops each night at local stables so the “gentle giants” can rest.
Fun facts about the Budweiser Clydesdale horses
- Each of the Clydesdales’ handcrafted harnesses and collars weigh approximately 130 pounds.
- The Budweiser Clydesdales are given short names, such as Duke, Mark and Bud, to make it easier for the driver to give commands to the horses during a performance.
- Budweiser Clydesdales’ horseshoes measure more than 20 inches from end to end and weigh about 5 pounds.
- Dalmatians were known as coach dogs because they ran between the wheels of coaches or carriages and were companions to the horses. Since the 1950s, Dalmatians have traveled with the Budweiser Clydesdales’ hitch, perched atop the wagon proudly seated next to the driver.
- The turn-of-the-century beer wagons have been meticulously restored and are kept in excellent condition. The wagons are equipped with two braking systems: a hydraulic pedal device that slows the vehicle for turns and downhill descents, and a handbrake that locks the rear wheels when the wagon is at a halt.
