Budweiser Clydesdales appear at El Dorado
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
An Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales hitch appeared in El Dorado this past week during the city's first-ever Western Frontier Days celebration.
The eight-horse hitch was in town from Thursday through Sunday. Visitors were allowed to stop at the fairgrounds and see how the animals were cared for.
The culminating event was a public performance Sunday afternoon. The horses were trucked to the top of the dam at El Dorado Lake. After the hitch was assembled, it traveled across the dam and down into the park, where thousands were gathered to view the horses and wagon in action.
The hitch was guided by a driver and an assistant who alternated holding the 40 pounds of reins. A Dalmation sat on the seat beside them.
The Clydesdales travel in style in two custom-designed semi-trailers. Cameras inside the trailers allow the driver to keep an eye on his valuable cargo. Portable stalls, other equipment, and feed and supplies travel in another identical trailer.
The striking, red-painted trailers with black, shiny tractors are a work of art in themselves, with an almost full-size portrait of the eight-horse hitch on each side. They feature rubber flooring, air suspension, and vent fans.
On performance days, expert grooms spend five hours washing and grooming the horses and inserting red and white ribbons and bows into their manes and tails. They spend 45 minutes harnessing them.
Here are some more interesting facts:
— Each horse is six feet tall at the shoulder and weighs 1,800-2,300 pounds.
— Each day, each horse consumes 20-25 quarts of feed, 50-60 pounds of hay, and up to 30 gallons of water.
— Each harness and custom-fitted collar weighs 130 pounds.
— Each horseshoe is more than 20 inches from end-to-end and weighs five pounds.
— The red wagon trimmed in yellow and gold is a replica of a 1903 Studebaker beer wagon.
— There are five traveling Anheuser-Busch hitches, which are on the road at least 10 months every year.
— Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales hitches have been in existence since 1933, shortly after the repeal of Prohibition. August Busch Jr. assembled the first hitch for his father to commemorate the first bottle of post-Prohibition beer brewed in St. Louis.
— In the early years of the company, Dalmations were used to guard wagons during beer deliveries. They were added to the promotional hitches in 1950.
