Wizzy 

Wizzy’s Wackyweed.....HELL ON WHEELS

This week’s ramble is a Clydesdale Presentation featuring the ever-popular Budweiser Clydesdale. The presentation is designed to educate guests about this famous Anheuser-Busch tradition...Sorry T this is NOT about how bad their beer sucks! (I’ll save that one for next time.) Just the horses...heheheee, lets see what kind of hate mail I can get from this ramble, I hope the jerkoff I talk about in this ramble reads this! LMAO.

“Here comes the king here comes the big number one”....it’s the tune the horses march too! Can’t remember the rest tho! Sorry I'm a MILLER type of girl anyway!

Ignorance in the city: when country comes to town....

The Rose Festival here in Portland is over, gone is the carnival, the US Navel ships and all the food vendors. The dragon boat race went off without a hitch this year; no one got run over by a tug boat pushing a barge either! The memories remain, the colorful floats made of roses, the kiddies watching each one pass by. People lined up the night before, some camping on the street for several days waiting for the parade to start.

I had to work so I did not get to see the parade, so one night after work I decided to stop and see the one thing I have always been fascinated with, the Budweiser Clydesdales! I rode my bike across the river and into down town to Pioneer Square to pay a visit.

Getting to the Square I first spotted the bigass 18 wheeler, a Peter Built cab over. For those who don’t know it’s a semi, heheheee, with the cab sitting OVER the engine. Hence a cab-over! No Not a comb over either....opps sorry side tracked. Any way painted solid black except for the 12 hitch of Clydesdales with the wagon and everything painted on the trailer of the semi!

I entered the tent the scent of horse flesh, fresh hay and the other smells that go along with horses filled my nostrils, bring me back to another place and time. A time of owning my own horses and the enjoyment it brought to me as a child growing up in Northern Wisconsin.

I dug out my camera and began snapping photos of these gentle giants. I watched this 3,000 pound gelding dozing, his bottom lip hung loose flopping and wiggling with each breath he took. His ear lazily twitched to the sides, and his Paul Bunyan dinner plate sized hoof rested up on the tip. The soulful brown eyes half lidded and his head hung low. Oh yeah this ole boy was very relaxed.

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Look at this big boy,see how his ear is to the side? and note how his hind hoof is resting on the tip,another sign of being very relaxed!oh and his bottom lip is hanging open!

I walked around looking at each gelding, all very relaxed and content as a bug in a rug. They were use to this kind of public display, people walked by each stall, whistling or calling their names yet the horses slept on.

What impressed me the most was one of the handlers who was on duty, as not only someone to ask questions to but as security as well. She stopped and took time with each little kid who had a question, as well as the adults who were there. I have to say how impressed I was at how patient she was with them. While she talked and answered questions I kept taking pictures and studying each horse. They were well behaved and just content to stand in the large box stall.

But this is where it gets good as this is what I call a ‘tree huggers ignorance!’ (that being from the northern Wisconsin slang, but out here he would be called a earth muffin.)I stood to the back just minding my own business taking a few more pictures when I hear this guy going off like he had diarrhea of the mouth. Heres his exact words,

“What did these animals do to you that they have to be punished?” His voice rather loud inside the tent. People stopped and listened to him go on and on.

The handler looked at him slightly puzzled then asked him to explain what he meant.

Being happy to oblige the idiot got up on his soap box raised his voice. Again going off at the mouth about how these animals were being treated cruel that they had to stand in a cage all day long. ‘It was just cruel’ the guy yelled.

By now I had worked my way up front as I felt sorry for this woman who had to put up with this guys crap. She had by now asked him to leave several times. I not being one to keep my nose clean and my mouth shut. I wiggled my way through the crowd to stand next to him. So I turned to him and this is how our conversation went.

“Excuse me sir?” I smiled so sweetly at him. I had all I could do to keep from giggling at his Birkenstocks sandals with black sockies! Let alone the short shorts he wore! Well he looked at me confused or maybe more like I had lost my marbles by interrupting his tirade! Little did he know what was about to hit him!  Now before you feel sorry for this poor sap(the ONLY nice word I can use there) let me explain and keep in mind he was yelling an acting like a fool in front of little kids!

So again I asked him,

“Excuse me sir but where did you grow up?” I smiled sweetly (tryin NOT to throw up in his sandals.)

“Right here in Portland.” He answered looking slightly dazed. I wondered if the earth muffin was stoned?

“Born and raised?” I asked, squinting from the yellow glare of his Columbia sports wear shirt. Oh yeah this drip has style AND class!

“Why yes, what does this have to do with anything?” He glared at me and  I smiled sweetly back at him.

“I can tell.” I mumbled

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked in a huff.

I noted out of the corner of my eye the handler watching this a little more the amused; I think she knew where I was going with this.

“So tell me have you lived anywhere else in any other state?”

“NO!”

Again I smiled this time for real as I had him right where I wanted the ‘puke’. (As my mother would most likely call him.)

“So you know no other states other then here as you were born and raised here? Correct?”

“Yes I do not see what this has to do with these horses!”

I held up my hand stopping him,

“Would you like to know what this does have to do with these horses and why I find it so funny you’re here talking about how cruel this is to them?” I took a breath not letting him speak I started in on him.

“These majestic animals are conceived in a barn, born in a barn and live in a stall as big as the one you see before you know! They like you know no other thing other then to pull that beautiful red wagon sitting outside!”

He was even more confused by this point, I paused again stepping a little higher on my soap box, puffed out my chest ok so  its big enough I really didn’t need to. But this ignorant doorknob had no clue what he was even talking about. “These horses are here to educate people like you, sir, to show city folk a breed of one of the strongest, most gentle horses in American history. If they were being treated cruelly or hurt in anyway do you not think the S.P.C.A. wouldn’t be here removing them from Anheuser-Busch possession? So next time sir, know your facts before you speak.”

He sputtered an stuttered tryin to come up with some kind of retort, he had none.

“These stalls in front of you hold some of the most loved and cared for work horses this country knows. It is a learning experience for kids and adults of all ages to come and see, they, sir, are an American icon! And if you can’t stand to see them caged up as you say then leave!”

As he took his leave to the sounds of many clapping hands I had all I could do to keep from slapping the taste right out of his mouth! I think this guy came to realize rather quickly he was just out smarted by a country hick!

Millions of dollars are spent in the careful breeding programs as well as the care these horses needs. The equipment to transport them from state to state, the wagon maintenance, the list goes on and on all this for the city folk to see something a little bit country!

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Granted maybe I was just as much as a jerk as this guy was, but way I see it I know my facts for I open my mouth and spew dirt on people for no apparent reason. Anyone who grew up like I did, started riding at the age of 4 or 5 if not sooner, horses have always been part of my life in fact anyone who grew up on a farm filled with horses would most likely have said the same thing to this ignorant man. Had he known his facts I highly doubt he would have spouted off at the mouth, or as my Gramma would say, ‘he was talking like a sausage!’

Has anyone seen the new commercials for the ICKY (yes T I said ICKY) Bud beer? Where the donkey goes into the barn and talks to one of the Clydesdales? Look carefully, you are seeing right into the stalls these horses live in! Or better yet take a virtual tour on anyone of the links I have attached! I hope each and every one of you; someday get the fortune of seeing them! I was one lucky little girl, my Gramma and Grampa got permission from someone and I got to sit on top of one of these gentle giants!

My closing thought is this; I wish I would have asked the dang earth muffin if he thought the thoroughbreds that run the Kentucky Derby were treated cruel?

So take a look at the following links and see for your self!

BARNTOUR........

http://www.budweisertours.com/docs/clydes.htm

http://www.grantsfarm.com/docs/stables.htm

http://www.carriagemart.com/articles/clydesdale_fact_sheet.asp

THE CLYDESDALE BREED:
Farmers living in the 19th century along the banks of the River Clyde in Lanarkshire, Scotland, bred the Great Flemish Horse, the forerunner of the Clydesdale. These first draft horses pulled loads of more than one ton at a walking speed of five miles per hour. Soon their reputation spread beyond the Scottish borders.

In the mid-1800s, Canadians of Scottish descent brought the first Clydesdales to the United States where the draft horses resumed their existence on farms. Today, the Clydesdales are used primarily for breeding and show.

THE BUDWEISER CLYDESDALES:
They were formally introduced to August A. Busch Sr. and Anheuser-Busch on April 7, 1933, to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition. August A. Busch Jr. wanted to commemorate the special day. To his father's delight, the hitch thundered down Pestalozzi Street carrying the first case of post-Prohibition beer from the St. Louis brewery.

HITCH REQUIREMENTS:
To qualify for one of the six hitches (five traveling and one stationary), a Budweiser Clydesdale must be a gelding at least four years of age. He must stand 72 inches, or 6 feet, at the shoulder when fully mature, weigh between 1,800 and 2,300 pounds, be bay in color, and have four white stocking feet, a blaze of white on the face, and a black mane and tail.

FEED:
Each hitch horse will consume as much as 20 to 25 quarts of feed, 50 to 60 pounds of hay and 30 gallons of water per day.

HITCH LOCATIONS:
Five traveling Budweiser Clydesdale hitches are based in St. Louis, Mo.; Menifee, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; Merrimack, N.H.; and San Antonio, Texas. The Budweiser Clydesdales can be viewed at the Anheuser-Busch breweries in St. Louis, Merrimack and Ft. Collins, Colo.

The Budweiser Clydesdales also may be viewed at Grant's Farm, the 281-acre ancestral home of the Busch family, in St. Louis and at the following Anheuser-Busch theme parks: Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va., and Tampa, Fla., and at the Sea World theme parks in Orlando, Fla.; San Diego, Calif.; and San Antonio, Texas.

CLYDESDALE OPERATIONS:
Based in St. Louis, Clydesdale Operations is responsible for maintaining and scheduling the five traveling hitches. They receive thousands of requests for the "gentle giants" every year. Each request is evaluated on the type of event, dates, history of appearances in that particular area and other input from Anheuser-Busch management representatives.

STABLES:
The official home of the Budweiser Clydesdales is an ornate brick and stained-glass stable built in 1885 on the historic 100-acre Anheuser-Busch brewery complex in St. Louis. The building is one of three located on the brewery grounds that are registered as historic landmarks by the federal government.

HANDLERS:
Expert grooms travel on the road with the hitch. They are on the road at least 10 months every year. When necessary, one handler has night duty to provide round-the-clock care for the horses, ensuring their safety and comfort.

TRANSPORT:
Ten horses, the famous red, white and gold beer wagon and other essential equipment are transported in three 50-foot tractor trailers, which weigh 24 tons when fully loaded. Cameras in the trailers (with monitors in the cabs) enable the drivers to keep a watchful eye on their precious cargo during transport. The team stops each night at local stables so the "gentle giants" can rest. Air-cushion suspension and thick rubber flooring in the trailers ease the rigors of traveling.

DRIVERS:
Driving the 12 tons of wagon and horses requires quite a bit of strength and skill. The 40 pounds of reins the driver holds, plus the tension of the reins, equals 75 pounds. All hitch drivers are put through a rigorous training period before they are given the reins.

HARNESS:
Each harness and collar weighs 130 pounds, and the entire set of eight is valued at more than $70,000. The harness is handcrafted from brass and leather. Pure linen thread is used for the stitching. The harness is made to fit any horse, but the collars come in different sizes and must be individually fitted like a suit of clothes.

NAMES:
Duke, Captain, Mark and Bud are just a few of the names given to the Budweiser Clydesdales. Names are kept short to make it easier for the driver to give commands to the horses during a performance.

HORSESHOES:
Clydesdale horseshoes measure more than 20 inches from end to end and weigh about five pounds -- more than twice as long and five times as heavy as the shoe worn by a riding horse. A horse's hoof is made of a nerveless, horn-like substance similar to the human fingernail, so being fitted for shoes affects the animal no more than a manicure affects people.

WAGON:
Turn-of-the-century beer wagons have been meticulously restored and are kept in excellent repair. The wagons are equipped with two braking systems: a hydraulic pedal device that slows the vehicle for turns and descents down hills, and a hand brake that locks the rear wheels when the wagon is at a halt.

DALMATIANS:
Dalmatians have traveled with the hitch since the 1950s. In the early days of brewing, Dalmatians were bred and trained to protect the horses and guard the wagon when the driver went inside to make deliveries. The black-and-white spotted dogs were swift enough to keep up with the wagons, and their light-colored bodies and markings made them easier to see during the twilight hours. Today, the Dalmatians are perched atop the wagon, seated next to the driver.

A foot note in regards to the last evil posting from my, shall I say EX-roomie now? Heheheheheee!

OT.... I did NOT add coffee to the kabobs, the wine I added to MY glass!

Oh and I now have an ad in the paper it states...

SGFW....ISO....SGWF new room-mate, one who travels A LOT, no pets, no smoking, and MUST have a great sense of humor!

Heheheee, Naw just kidding, I did however leave the dorkwad a little present under her pillow for when she comes home next month!

Later Taters,  

Wizzy