Becoming a world-famous Budweiser Clydesdale

It’s one of my favorite places to visit: Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville, Missouri.  That’s where Budweiser Clydesdales are born, bred and. If they’re lucky, they may even make it into one of those famous Super Bowl commercials. 

The first three months of the year are busy times at Warm Springs Ranch.    

"It is baby time here at the ranch," said Amy Trout as she walked through the barn specially made for new moms and their foals. Trout manages the facility that breeds the world-famous Clydesdales.   

Newborns typically weigh between 125 to 150 pounds, and you just want to hug them.   

"The baby coat is really soft and really thick and that's because this breed of horse was originated in Scotland, and it was a very cold, wet climate and so they needed this thick coat," Trout said. 

"To be a Budweiser Clydesdale pulling an 8-horse hitch you need the beautiful bay body, Black mane and tail, four white legs, the blaze down the center of the face,” Trout said.  

The only other requirement?  You have to be a male.  It’s still a boys’ club.  

While I was there I met Gizmo. He was a star in the making, and could have  what it takes to be a part of the storied hitch team. Once Gizmo is weaned from mom after about six months, he'll head to Grant's farm from what is known as prep school. That lasts for about four years, and then he'll head back to Warm Springs and that's where the real work begins: hitch school. 

"Then when he turns five it is like the NFL draft. We'll get the three hitches together, and they're like I want this one, and they pick which horses they want to go to and can retire any older horses they need," Trout said. 

Retirement for Clydesdales is sweet. At nine years old, gentle giant Vince had an esteemed career on the hitch. 

 "Now we use him for meeting and greeting the guests here and most importantly he was in an Anheuser Busch Super Bowl Commercial," Trout said.   

His role? To simply run free, just as he does at the ranch. The life of an esteemed A-B Clydesdale truly comes full circle. Vince will show the ropes to future hitches like Gizmo.  

Trout said, "It is a really cool part of my job to see them transition through all those steps in their life and to see them come back here and to see them as this magnificent animal."