BALLAD OF THE BIG ONES

[Music] it has been written that a hitch of Clydesdales move down the street with a muffled thunder of trampling feet and a roar like the roar of the tide 32 shoes make abundance of the leaning red wagon rolling behind [Music] you [Music] Maine's B ribbon [Music] white feathers on Layton carried once an armored Knight and on each crowd had a place of white a burnished me [Music] [Music] 16:17 hands and the Karla peas [Music] always carries the site of a well-tuned hitch with all its fight Holly's leaning in the Sun 16 tons majestically moving as war [Music] like flights Ames near Evan Arnaz the branch at control down the gears Sir James and Gao relied upon their peers saver and [Music] there's a big bar the Clydesdale the Clydesdale coming from Scotland where the pride of free [Music] this is the home of the big ones at the anheuser-busch brewery in st. Louis Missouri officially designated by the United States Department of the Interior as a national landmark it's here that the team rests between appearances at state fairs horse shows parades and celebrations all over the country travels that average close to 25,000 miles a year this is also where the young ones are trained and prepared for that day when they'll take their place in the team moving with a stately powerful gait he counts among his ancestors those giants who roamed the valley of the River Clyde and carried armored Knights into battle in the Middle Ages only those Clydesdales that when fully grown weigh at least a ton and have that beautiful Bey color the heavy white hairs on their legs called feathers and that distinctive patch of white on the head called a blaze only those will be considered eligible for the hitch braiding the mane that intricate pattern of weaving ribbons through the hair requires skill on the part of the groom patience on the part of the horse but he seems to understand that all this decoration is part of the badge of office this makes him one of the big ones and the champion must look like a champion [Music] getting used to wearing their special harness is something else for the rookie Clydesdales to learn the harness for 1/8 horse team cost $30,000 and each piece of it is carefully in painstakingly made by hand this is a learning in practice to horse hitch wagon which teaches the youngsters to work side by side with each other many hours many weeks many months are spent here before they graduate to the big red wagon anheuser-busch used beautiful horses to pull its brewery wagons up until the time of prohibition in 1933 in anticipation of the end of prohibition August a bush junior assembled the first 8 horse hitch and on the day after repeal the first case of Budweiser was delivered in Washington by a Clydesdale drawn wagon much like the ones seen by hundreds of millions of people from coast-to-coast today getting a pair of shoes can be a problem and if you're a Clydesdale it takes on even greater dimension their shoes are all handmade by a blacksmith in st. Louis no machine made of horse shoe could come close to fitting them it takes a piece of steel 22 inches by an inch and a half by a half-inch to make one shoe and when it's finished each shoe weighs 4 and 3/4 pounds [Music] while so traveling this wide wonderful land and Frankie marvels to the sunny Florida sand and paint big tons of majestic grace [Music] the big one the Clydesdales the Clydesdale risen are thus leaving [Music] the wagon the Clydesdales pull weighs three and a half tons and is a carbon copy of an original beer wagon the horses respond quickly and intelligently through a series of precise and intricate maneuvers here they come like the roar of the tides become the horses is the copra massage less than 25,000 miles a year [Music] the rainbows our wagon with me and a big was the Clydesdale the Clydesdales a memory of days [Music] a Clydesdale kind of town Chicago is [Music] [Applause] meet the big ones in st. Louis underneath the arch [Music] our follow Old Man River down to New Orleans where jazz and the Clydesdales march along together [Music] on to Houston where the eyes of Texas take a look at the big ones now to Old Town in Albuquerque here in this square Albuquerque was established in 1706 and of course the Clydesdales feel right at home at the daddy of them all Cheyenne Frontier Days from the daddy of them all to Independence Hall in Philadelphia [Applause] New York New York the big city and the big ones feel right at home marching down Fifth Avenue on a rainy summer day in the Puerto Rican Day Parade or a chilly November day in the Macy's parade [Music] [Applause] [Music] perhaps the biggest event during the year for the big ones at least in terms of people watching is the annual Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day the team has represented the city of st. Louis since 1953 this float was called gypsy days a unique float in the form of a picturesque gypsy wagon to be pulled by the eight horse hitch nearly 200 thousand flowers carnations tulips flown from Holland poinsettias and many others were used to decorate gypsy days in the past Tournament of Roses Parade the Clydesdales of worn blankets of roses in this one however each wore a floral arch with approximately 1000 carnations of yellow rose tangerine pink and red 32 the trembling clown 32 shoes made a thundering sound the flaming red wagon rolls behind [Music] despite the Clydesdales a memory of days [Music] [Applause]