Groomer relates chores of working with Budweiser Clydesdale team

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

George Armstrong spends a lot of work hours preparing the Budweiser Clydesdales for exhibitions and parades. Here, he polishes one of the horse's harnesses at the recent Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo. -- Staff photo by Carolyn Rost

March 31, 2005 - When August A. Busch Jr. presented his father with a team of Clydesdales to celebrate the end of Prohibition in 1933, little did he know that the tradition of the big horses pulling a bright red brewery wagon would carry over into the 21st century.

George Armstrong of St. Louis, Mo., a groomsman who is part of a seven-man team, knows all about the "gentle giants," and has worked with the horses for over 23 years. The group travels all over the United States with the horses best known as the "Budweiser Clydesdales," showing them at rodeos, fairs and other functions. As beautiful as the horses are, they require hours of training and care in order to be a part of the Budweiser team.

Armstrong explained that he and other groomers rise between 3 and 7 a.m., depending on the day's schedule. Each horse is washed, groomed and exercised in the morning hours, and the stalls are cleaned while the horses are out.

The huge horses, on exhibit at the recent Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo in Austin, resident at a ranch in Missouri. At the ranch, there are around 250 Clydesdales, of different ages and in various stages of training, ready to go out on the show circuit.

A grown Clydesdale stands between 18.1 hands to 18.3 hands tall (that's about six-feet tall at the shoulder), and weighs between 2,000 to 2,250 pounds, according to Armstrong. This size is not hard to imagine when you see the individual diets per day! Each grown horse's daily diet includes about 25 quarts of feed, which is a blend of beet pulp, crimped oats, bran, minerals, salt and molasses; a number of carrots, and 40 to 60 pounds of hay. To wash it all down, each horse drinks about 30 gallons of water each day.

Every five weeks, each horse gets a new set of shoes. Their horseshoes measure 20 inches from end to end and each weighs in at five pounds.

While they are still on the ranch, the yearlings are halter broke, and soon learn to be led around by a groomer. By the second year, the horses practice wearing a harness and are teamed with older, reliable horses to learn to pull "dead weight." By four years of age, each horse is ready for show time!

While Armstrong was reared on a farm and participated in rodeos as a young man, he said that the hardest part of this job with the Clydesdales is the long days. Once the horses are fed, groomed and exercised, each harness and halter must be cleaned and polished, each day.

To make sure the horses get their rest, a rotation schedule is used. After several weeks of showing, they return to the ranch for a while, said Armstrong.

The groomer also noted other interesting facts about the big horses. The average gestation period for Clydesdales is 11 months, and most are bred in April or May. At birth, the colt or filly weighs between 120 to 150 pounds. Each receives a short name, so they will be able to learn it more easily, noted Armstrong.

While accidents can happen, Armstrong explained that in spite of their size, Clydesdales are a docile breed of horse, and just like other animals ... the more you work with them, the better they perform.

"They're not out to hurt you," said Armstrong.

After leaving the Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo, this group was heading for Rockport, Miss., and then on to Memphis, Tenn. Then, this team of Budweiser Clydesdales (Scott, Bud, Ace, Luke and Chris, among others) will be swapped out for a "rest period" and another group will go out; and Armstrong said, with a laugh, that he's taking a vacation, too!