Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Michelle Speck has a cool job. She gets to groom and train the Budweiser Clydesdales, from the time they’re cute little foals to when they grow into immense 1-ton geldings, at their palatial stable at Grant’s Farm (grantsfarm.com). It’s easy to see how she’s fallen in love with the “gentle giants.”
• I’m a Clydesdale handler. We do the training for the Clydesdales from six months to four years. My typical day is, get to work, clean stalls, feed horses, and start training with them so they can handle baths and clippings. If we’re open for the public that day, we get a lot of horses ready to be put on display, too.
• Right now at Grant’s Farm, we have about 50 horses. Their parents are all at Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville. We get the babies when they’re 6 months old and we're ready to start training. We have 50-plus acres of pasture for the horses to run in.
• The horses are about 18 hands—which is 6 feet—at the withers. The ones that travel on the road are all males, because they’re larger than the females. They weigh about 2,000 pounds, and they eat about eight to 10 pounds of grains and 50 pounds of hay a day, and drink 30 gallons of water.
• Their foot is the size of a dinner plate, and their horseshoes weigh about 5 pounds each.
• The horses are so pampered! They get the best care they could ever ask for. From six months old, we teach them how to stand for a grooming and a haircut, and how to point their feet up for the farriers. We try to gain their trust and socially interact with them. Guests like to come up and pet them. When they’re 3, they start to wear parts of the harness. We teach them how to go on and off a trailer. We actually have a semi on display for people to see at the farm, too.
• Clydesdales are so much more docile than a normal horse. They’re curious and eager to learn. They really are gentle giants. You get some that will come running after you and want to snuggle up with you and love up on you.
• It is so special to see the foals grow. I really like working with the babies and watching them grow and develop and gaining a one-on-one trust with that baby. You can see what they’re thinking from the ways their ears are. If they’re forward, they’re interested and listening to you. It’s amazing to eventually see them on the road pulling the wagon and say, “I knew that baby when it was young, and I had a part in its life.”
• We get them at Grant’s Farm till they’re 4. Then they go to a stable in Merrimack, N.H., and they learn how to be hitched to a wagon. They learn with two hitches, and then four and then they get to eight. Then they drive them around town and get them used to everything they could be exposed to on the road.
• They get hitched up for NASCAR races, Major League Baseball, holiday parades, bike week in Sturgis, S.D., and other events, and you can request them for your event, too.
• A Dalmatian travels with each hitch. The Dalmatian was needed way back when to guard the wagon when they made the beer deliveries, and the black-and-white coat was easily seen at night.
• For the horses used in commercials, they go to a special trainer, and they’re trained to do what they need to do for that commercial. That’s usually shot in California. Hope, the horse used in the 2013 Super Bowl commercial, is out at Boonville.
• Stan was the first baby born this year. After a social-media campaign, they named him after Stan Musial. He was an extra for the Super Bowl commercial. He’s on display at Grant’s Farm now. Everybody asks where Stan’s at and how he’s doing and wants their picture with him.
• When the horses get older, they come back to Grant’s Farm for retirement, and we use them for special events and for photos. They have a nice retirement in a nice green pasture.
