Imagine, you have served for 80 years, traveled 2 million miles, marched in 4800 parades and appeared at 11,000 events!  Today, four scholars from Sanders Clyde Expanded Day, A Backpack Journalist Class had a special interview with Victor and his Clydesdale Handler, Burt Westbrook.

The Clydesdales were in the low country of South Carolina attending a Riverdogs Baseball game helping to present several Folds of Honor scholarships, a parade, and a Patriot’s Point military monument dedication.  Their tent and display were set up at The Grove, Patriot’s Point.

“We are all about serving people in our communities through special events, visiting military installations and Veteran’s Administration locations, and especially children’s hospitals.  It’s in our heritage. And, we do it quietly; we never advertise this type of community support. ” Burt, a Clydesdale handler explained while introducing Victor to Stephan, Amir, Jaden and Dorian and Ms. Dennis.  Burt was speaking about the “Hitch” and teams of Clydesdales that cover the United States from three locations (New Hampshire, Missouri and Colorado).  They have several breeding farms also, and in total they have about 250 Clydesdales.

These Sanders Clyde scholars had never seen a horse, so today was a special time for each of them.  In awe at first of the size of Victor, with Burt’s help, each of them moved in closer and were quickly engaged.  By the close of our interview they were gently petting Victor, and pausing to take a photo with him. Several times during our visit and interview, Victor was seen making eye contact with Ms. Dennis!

Burt began with sharing the history of the Clydesdale.  “We first see the Clydesdale in Scotland in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.  They were named after the river:  Clyde.  Knights rode the Clydesdale to jostle, with the long poles.  They retired from use by the Knights, after they became too big and clumsy and were then worked by the farmers. In the United States, the Clydesdales were hitched to a delivery wagon to deliver the merchandise, which back then was beer.”

So we asked, when did the Dalmatian join the wagon?   We learned that early on the delivery company felt that they needed a dog to sit on the wagon while the delivery was being made, to protect all of the other merchandise on the wagon.   The Dalmatian was chosen for his “black and white” spots!  Today, the Dalmatian is a permanent rider on the wagon and rides with all the hitches!   The scholars also met one of the Dalmatians, as he was casually walking around THE GROVE at Patriot’s Point.

So how do you measure the height and size of the horse?  It’s by hand.  Burt continued:  “The farmer back when, did not have a measuring stick to determine the size, so they used their hands” Burt held up his hand for us to see the inside of the palm from index finder to edge of hand.

“Our Clydesdales are typically at five years are 2000 pounds, and measure at least 18 hands.   Each shoe on the horse weighs about 4 ¾ pounds.  The color of the Clydesdale coat is called “Bay”, which is a brown color” Burt continued.

Burt showed us all of the Clydesdales and while they were shades of “Bay”, they all had the white markings on the head and also on the front of the legs.  Burt even showed us how he combs the “feathers” at their feet.  That was perhaps one of the most interesting piece of information on the grooming of these beautiful horses. The long white hair that flows down to the ground and above their shoes is called “feathers”, and they use TAME to make sure that the hair flows straight to their shoes.

When they gallop, or “march”, air catches the feathers, and we saw on a video in the display how beautiful that looked!

So how do they groom and prepare 10 horses for each “hitch” or team. They are washed and brushed and then the feathers combed each day, and it takes about 5 hours per horse. They each have a harness, of English leather and brass, and that has to be polished daily.  And, then of course they are fed.

We learned that the larger Clydesdales are hitched closest to the wagon, and then the others, two by two are placed in line.  They have on their harness, beautiful brass eye covers (blinders) that help keep them from looking off to either side, and only to look forward, which is the direction that they will pull the wagon.  (Note the display had sample reins for us to pull, and it was really tough!)

So how does a horse sleep?  Always lying down, and before they lay down, they will shift their back legs.  And, we all were fortunate to watch as one of Victor’s friends shifted.

Perhaps it was the awe of being so close to such beautiful horses that when Burt asked for questions, only Jaden came forward.  “How do you tell when they are sick?”

Burt explained that as with a human, horses do get sick, and we as handlers keep a sharp eye over each of them.  If they being “listless” or not as active as normal, we take action.

As we began to leave and thank Burt for his time, he offered up a picture with Victor.  With caution, each scholar walked over to Victor and stood next to him.  To demonstrate the gentleness of Victor, Burt asked Victor to stand still and then Burt, moved aside.  Victor stood, and even looked at our camera!

Then, Burt asked each to rub Victor’s coat, and to feel the horse hair.  Note the smiles on the scholar’s faces.  We thanked Burt and headed back to school, our hour was up.

As we all rode back over the Ravenel Bridge, the scholars began to share their experience, the meeting of a horse.  A Clydesdale, only perhaps the most beautiful horse in the world, and one that has a spirit of giving and showmanship! We did spend time in their display also, where each scholar viewed a short video of the Clydesdales in action.  Ms. Dennis shared with us the many Super Bowl commercials that the Clydesdales appeared in, showing respect for our country, and again it supports our heritage as a nation.

It was Stephan who commented and observed:  “Hey did you see that each time Burt said a few words to Victor, he did what he was told! Victor was really well behaved.”

Burt’s official title is Clydesdale Handler.  We all agreed that Victor, and all of his other Clydesdale’s friends, were quite beautiful.  Victor was huge, yet seemed kind.  We were so lucky to have this special time with them.  Thank you to the Budweiser Company, and the New Hampshire “Hitch”, for letting us visit on your day off and to watch as you groomed and spent time with your Clydesdales. And, to Southern Eagle Distributing for bringing Victor and the “hitch” here to the low country of South Carolina.

The World Renowned Clydesdales are presented by Budweiser.  For a complete history, which began in 1933 by the Budweiser Company, please visit.

http://www.anheuser-busch.com/index.php/our-heritage/budweiser-clydesdales/