The team will be marching in both the Battle of Flowers and Fiesta Flambeau parades.
Visitors to the Alamo were treated to an unusual sight as Fiesta got underway: a team of eight Budweiser Clydesdales . The “gentle giants” had San Antonians , tourists and Fiesta royalty pulling out their cameras to take selfies with both the team and the Alamo in the background.
The iconic Clydesdales, Gus the Dalmatian and their humans are in town to celebrate Fiesta, San Antonio’s iconic 11-day party. Their trip to the Alamo on Friday was the first of their Fiesta stops. Also on the agenda are visits to “several grocery stores,” according to a news release . They’ll be wrapping up their Fiesta plans by marching in both the Battle of Flowers and Fiesta Flambeau parades. FIESTA 2024: How to survive Fiesta, San Antonio's biggest party of the year In honor of their visit to the Alamo City, here are eight things to know about the breed. This isn’t the Clydesdales’ first visit to San Antonio The Clydesdales have been to Fiesta before. They’ve also been to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. But did you know that San Antonio used to have its own team of Clydesdales? Back in the ’90s and ’00s, Anheuser-Busch owned SeaWorld. In fact, it bought the theme parks the year after the San Antonio site opened. The brewery set up a stable at the San Antonio park and brought in the Clydesdales . San Antonio Zoo CEO Tim Morrow worked for the water park during the Clydesdales' stint. “I had the honor of managing the hitch and barn at SeaWorld San Antonio when the park was owned by Anheuser-Busch,” he wrote in a post on X announcing their return to town. Just how big are Clydesdales? The Clydesdales are one of the tallest draft horses. At the top end, an adult horse can weigh more than a ton and measure over 18 hands . By the way, horse heights are measured up to the shoulder — not the top of the head. A foal is usually around 125 pounds at birth. You can imagine how big their feet must be. In fact, Budweiser says its Clydesdale horseshoes are over 20 inches long — and weigh about 5 pounds. FIESTA 2024: Your 2024 guide to San Antonio’s biggest party How strong are Clydesdales? They were bred to haul heavy loads, not only on farms but also coal fields and the streets of Glasgow . According to an article in House & Home Magazine, one Clydesdale can pull its weight for a full eight-hour shift. When they’re teamed up with a partner, they can tackle three times their weight. Their drivers have to be in good shape, too. The hitch drivers have to go through a “lengthy training process,” Budweiser says on its Clydesdale site. Not too surprising when you consider they have to be able to control 12 tons of horse and wagon. The lines themselves weigh about 40 pounds — that weight combined with the tension in the lines created by the horses pulling means that drivers are dealing with a weight of over 75 pounds, according to Budweiser. Then there’s the harness and collar , each of which weighs about 130 pounds. FIESTA 2024: NIOSA’s ‘Egg Ladies’ putting final touches on Fiesta cascarones How much do Clydesdales eat? Budweiser says each hitch horse eats as much as 50 to 60 pounds of hay plus 20 to 25 quarts of a combination of whole grains, minerals and vitamins. To wash that down, they drink up to 30 gallons of water on a warm day . Why are they called Clydesdales? The nickname “gentle giant” is pretty easy to figure out. So is their name once you know where they came from. This particular heavy draft horse was bred by the farmers of Lanarkshire, according to Oklahoma State University. The River Clyde flows through Lanarkshire, once known as Clydesdale. Why are Clydesdales associated with Budweiser? Back in 1933, August A. Busch Jr. and Adolphus Busch III decided to mark the repeal of Prohibition by giving their father, August A. Busch Sr., a six-horse Clydesdale hitch. Somebody at the company saw the marketing potential in a horse-drawn wagon pulled by a hitch of Clydesdales. So a second hitch was secured and sent to New York City to celebrate the end of Prohibition. On its website, Budweiser says thousands turned out to catch sight of the Clydesdales as they made their way through the city to the Empire State Building, where a case of Budweiser was given to former Gov. Alfred E. Smith for fighting Prohibition. FIESTA 2024: Your stopping place for all things Fiesta The hitch wasn’t done yet. The Clydesdales toured New England and the mid-Atlantic states en route to Washington, D.C., where a case of Budweiser was delivered to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Nowadays, eight-horse Clydesdale hitches travel about 100,000 miles a year, making hundreds of stops. Plus there’s the Super Bowl visits and TV ads. And visitors to the breweries in St. Louis can visit the Clydesdales living there — or they can head to Warm Springs Ranch, the official breeding site located in Boonville, Mo. Where did the dalmatians come from? The dalmatian became the Clydesdales' mascot in March 30, 1950, as part of the celebration marking the opening of the Anheuser-Busch Newark Brewery in New Jersey. Apparently, it was a hit — because now each Clydesdale hitch has its own dalmatian.
Anheuser-Busch Home Magazine Seaworld Fiesta San Antonio Zoo Bet Oklahoma State University Tim Morrow Fiesta Flambeau Dalmatian Gus Alfred E. Smith Franklin Delano Roosevelt August A. Busch Sr. X Adolphus Busch III A. Busch Jr. San Antonians Empire State Building Washington D.C. Alamo City Warm Springs Ranch Seaworld San Antonio Scotland Glasgow New York City River Clyde Anheuser-Busch Newark Brewery Mid-Atlantic New England St. Louis Mo Boonville New Jersey Lanarkshire Battle Of Flowers Prohibition San Antonio Stock Show Super Bowl Clydesdales House &Amp Fiesta Budweiser Rodeo San Antonio The Clydesdales
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