Tornado rips across East Houma street
January 2, 2008Brian Champange
January 7, 2008
Budweiser’s world-famous Clydesdales will again pull the company’s red beer wagon – Dalmatian in tow – this Mardi Gras season.
The prize horses will arrive in Houma Jan. 28, and will be stabled for the public’s view at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center.
In addition to a stop at Grenier Industries on Jan. 30 and a viewing at the Terrebonne Association for Retarded Citizens the following morning, the Clydesdale team will appear in four Houma Mardi Gras parades: the Krewes of Aphrodite, Mardi Gras, Cleophas and Houma.
The Clydesdales, whose appearance in Houma is sponsored by Buquet Distributing Company, make 300 annual appearances and have been used as a “symbol of quality and tradition” for Anheuser-Busch since 1933.
The eight-horse hitch that will be in Houma is one of five traveling hitches throughout the United States.
The history of the Clydesdales goes back to the repeal of Prohibition. In honor of the first bottle of beer brewed in St. Louis after Prohibition, August A. Busch Jr. presented a hitch of Clydesdales to his father.
From there, the popularity and symbolism ensued.
Another facet, Dalmatians, was added to the hitches in the 1950s to protect the carriages when the drivers made their deliveries.
The well-known Clydesdales and their Dalmatian sidekick have been seen in hundreds of Budweiser commercials, as well as events all over the country, ranging from small-town parades to the Rose Bowl Parade; from tiny festivals to the nation’s biggest spectacle, the Super Bowl.
Clydesdales were first brought into America in the mid-1800s. Canadians of Scottish decent were the first to introduce the giant horses to America. Today, they are used primarily for breeding and show.
Still, there are strict criteria to be a Budweiser Clydesdale.
Budweiser Clydesdales are required to be at least three-years old, stand approximately six feet at the shoulder, weigh an average of 2,000 pounds, be bay in color, have four white stockings, a blaze of white on the face and a black mane and tail.
