I had a very interesting weekend, traveling to Boonville, Missouri to tour and photograph the famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses. Budweiser owns a large breeding ranch there, called Warm Springs Ranch, and boards/breeds/trains the Clydesdales for their “hitch team” that tours around the country. And the highlight was meeting “Hope”, which you may have seen in this year’s Super Bowl commercial. In this commercial, which was about the bond between a young Clydesdale horse and his trainer. After the trainer left the Clydesdales, 3 years later he read about the Clydesdales coming to Chicago for a parade. Attending the parade, the Clydesdale recognized the trainer and, after the parade was over, made his way to the trainer. Well, young Hope was the newborn foal that was featured in the very beginning of that commercial (if you haven’t seen that commercial, here is a link where you can watch it: Budweiser/Hope commercial).
At birth (Jan. 16, 2013), Hope weighed ~150 pounds. Today, she weighs ~400 pounds! Here are a couple of images of Hope that I made during my visit there:
And in this next photo, Hope has a playmate, another Clydesdale foal that is just a few days older than Hope is (they named this foal Stan, in memory of the late Stan “the man” Musial, the legendary St. Louis Cardinal baseball player):
In another post, I’ll feature some interesting facts about the Clydesdales and the Warm Springs Ranch, as well as some more Clydesdale horses, including some more newborn foals … one being only 8 days old at the time of my visit! And if you’re ever in Missouri, check out Warm Spring Ranch and the Clydesdales … you’ll be glad you did!
By the way, this post is not an endorsement for drinking alcohol. If you do drink, please do so responsibly!