and Now ladies and gentlemen boys and girls here they come the famous world renowned buttweiser Clyde stes and you’re watching eight tons of Champions the beautifully matched eight horse hitch from anheiser Bush Brewery driven by Dave Thomas and notice how effortlessly the driver handles the hitch he holds the four pairs of rains laced through the fingers of each hand giving him individual ual control of each horse each pair of horses in the hitch has a specific job to perform as part of the team the front pair are called the
lead team and are smaller and more active than the others because they have to cover the most territory in a turn or do it in a faster time and the second pair are the swing horses they are slightly larger than the lead horses but are just as agile and active because of the area they have to cover in making turns and the third pair called the body horses they again are slightly larger than the swing pair because they have to help pull more of the load on the pair closest to the wagon they are called
wheel horses they are the largest of the four pairs because they have to hold the wagon back while the other horses make the turn these horses enable the hitch to make a 90° turn the Clydes are extremely intelligent beautifully mannered and trained to per infection they are also very very gentle exceptionally gentle despite the fact that they dwarf ordinary horses in size the average age of these Clydes 4 to 9 years the average height 18 hands or 6 feet at shoulder height an average weight of a Clydesdale
2,000 lb and watch how the Clydesdale the Clydesdales maneuver the wagon they make it look like a toy would you believe that wagon weighs 3 and2 tons each Clyde stale horseshoe the Horseshoe is made from a piece of Steel 22 in long and 1 and 1/2 in wide it weighs almost 4 lb 4 lb of shoe and in case you’re thinking about getting your own Clydesdale hitch you might be interested to know that the harness alone costs well over $100,000 and it’s all handmade decorated extensively with brass ornamentation
when they’re on the road the Budweiser CDs travel as a caravan in three tractor trailers each van 45 ft long 8 ft wide and in the two horse Vans all stalls face forward and are arranged so that the horses can’t be thrown off balance the third van is used to transport the huge brass trimmed wagon portable stalls and other necessary equipment now the dalmatian dog sitting on the wagon he’s the official mascot of the hitch he goes everywhere the team goes them that takes them 30,000 m a year his name is
Lulu folks you’re seeing a high spot of a byon era the Budweiser Clydes in all their Glory just the way your grandparents remember them let’s give them a hand they are the champion of champions [Music]
