Budweiser Clydesdales draw crowds across USA

  • Published
  • By Rebecca Amber
  • Staff writer
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Since 1933 when the Budweiser Clydesdales became an American icon, they have been enjoyed by people of all ages. The West Coast team arrived earlier in the week before appearing at the L.A. County Airshow providing ample time to visit Edwards AFB March 18. The team drove to Arnold Park in three large red Budweiser trucks as military families and civilian employees gathered around to watch.

Eight Clydesdales took their places hitched to a 1903 Studebaker wagon that weighs just over 7,000 pounds. The wagon was designed to hold up to 6,000 pounds traveling from town to town. It's made of ash and oak with steel springs and a metal undercarriage.

"This was a semi back in the day," said Doug Bousselot, Budweiser Clydesdales supervisor. "Once they got to town, they would have unloaded it at the dock and put parts of the load on a wagon with two horses and delivered it into town."

Today, the team is made up of 10 horses and their Dalmatian, Chip. On any given show day, eight of the horses perform while two are given a turn to rest.

"We'll hook up the horses over 200 times this year, but no matter what, they always have a day off," said Bousselot.

The team receives so many requests, they cannot always fulfill them. However, according to Bousselot, the military stops are a priority that they try to accommodate as often as possible.

"In our opinion, there's just never enough you can do for the military," he said. "For what they do, for us it's just an honor to be on bases."

Each Clydesdale is bay, or dark brown in color with a white blaze down their noses. They have a black mane and tail and four white legs with fetlock hair, commonly known as feathers. They are usually around 18 hands tall, which is six-feet at the shoulders, close to 2,000 pounds, with a good disposition.

"What people like, I think, most about the horses is how big they are, yet how gentle they are. They come out, with their heads up and they're flashy and their feathers are moving."

Around 30 Budweiser Clydesdale foals are raised out of the company's breeding program in Bonneville, Missouri, every year. According to Bousselot, the first foal this year was born on Superbowl Sunday. 

There are three teams of Clydesdales; the other two are in St. Louis and New Hampshire.

"Grandparents have grown up seeing the Clydesdales and a lot of times that's what you have, a grandparent with the grandkids," said Bousselot. "When the grandkids are smiling, the parents are smiling and the grandparents are smiling. It's kind of a tradition that passes on and I think that means a lot."