This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: July 10, 2008 - To hear Carlos Brito tell his story, St. Louis has nothing to worry about should InBev buy Anheuser-Busch. Why would InBev want to "lose the local touch?" he said. And, Brito adds, "Why would I change the Clydesdales if the Clydesdales are the thing that most people remember?"
Why, indeed, would anyone want to change the Clydesdales. Surely not a Belgian company, a company whose heritage beers come from the same place as Belgian Draft Horses.
And what about those Belgian horses?
They were already in the United States at roughly the same time that the Clydesdales breeding association was incorporated in 1879. But the Belgian breed's popularity lagged behind the Percheron, Clydesdale and Shire until the Belgian government sent an exhibit of horses to -- where? -- the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904! Now the Belgian Draft Horse outnumbers all other draft breeds - combined -- in the United States.
And the Belgians are not without claims to royalty. The Belgian Draft Horse Corporation of America notes that its fine equine brutes are the "most direct lineal descendants of the 'Great Horse' of medieval times." That's the horse that the aristocracy rode into battle.
The American breeders group also lauds the improvements in the breed's appearance since it came to this country and says, "The modern Belgian is still a great worker... and has become a great wagon horse. The fact that the Belgians are equally effective in pulling competition as in a hitch competition says it all."
Did they say hitch?
As in eight-horse hitch?
So how do the Belgians (photo at left from Oklahoma State) match up against our Clydesdales (photo at right by Tom Nagel, for the Beacon)?
According to the Anheuser-Busch website, a member of its traveling hitches must be a gelding (neutered male) at least four years old.
He must:
- Stand 18 hands (6 feet from the ground to the withers, which is roughly the end of its mane)
- Weigh between 1,800 and 2,000 pounds
- Be a bay with four white stocking feet, a blaze of white on the face and a black mane and tail.
According to a report in "Farm and Garden," the average Belgian
- Stands 17 hands (5.3 feet)
- Weighs 1,800 pounds
- Is chestnut, sorrel or roan with flaxen mane and tail.
While Belgians could be found that have the requisite height and girth and even the bay coloring, (truth be told, the enterprising Scottish farmers who developed the Clydesdale breed imported "Flemish" horses to mate with local draft horses), they won't have the "stockings." Clydesdales are known for their feather or spat, where the long white hair goes over the horse's hoof. This characteristic "originally helped protect the horses' legs. Now," notes the A-B website, "it is primarily for show."
And what a show. For many "Here comes the king" refers to the horse pulling the beer wagon, as much as it does the beer.
Belgians ... mais non.