Clippity cloppity Clydesdales on their way Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale Team gets R&R at local farm BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer When the wagon wheels start turning round and 40 white-stocking hooves hit the ground, the Clydesdales have come to town. ERIC SUCAR staff Rudy, an 8-year-old Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale, greets 9-year-old Hailey DaBronzo, of Hamilton, at Birch Creek Farm in Upper Freehold on March 5. Millions of people are delighted at performances of the Anheuser- Busch Clydesdale Horse Team and their Studebaker wagon when seen in commercials and parades, but locals had an extraordinary chance on March 5 to get up close and personal with the gentle giants at Birch Creek Farm in Cream Ridge. The hitch team was staying at the farm for rest and relaxation amid its visit to the area for the Trenton St. Patrick's Day parade and a stop at the McGuire Air Force Base in Wrightstown. Wind whipped through Rudy's dark mane as individuals, families and members of the media petted and talked to him and asked questions of handler Barb Jesse. A wheel horse because he is among the biggest and the strongest on the team, the 8-year-old Rudy measures 19 hands and weighs 2,200 pounds. ERIC SUCAR staff The Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale Horse Team including Rudy, pictured above, visited Birch Creek Farm in Cream Ridge on March 5 before heading to McGuire Air Force Base in Wrightstown. To qualify for one of the traveling hitches, an Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale must be a gelding at least four years of age. He must be 18 hands (6 feet) and weigh between 1,800 and 2,000 pounds. Hailey DaBronzo, 9, of Hamilton, said, "He's humongous" when she saw Rudy. Her father, Mark, said it was amazing to see the Clydesdales as he had only before seen themon TV. "They're a lot bigger in person," he said. "Now, when we see them on TV, we might be seeing one of these guys." Rudy, Don, Stuart, Ringo, Dillon, George, Ben, Jack, Dell and Cole make up the hitch team that visited Birch Creek. The Clydesdales travel in teams of 10, although only eight are needed to pull the wagon. "Two always have the day off," Jesse said. The company has traveling teams based in St. Louis, Miss.; Menifee, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.;Merrimack, N.H.; and SanAntonio, Texas. Jesse said Rudy's and 26 other teams are kept at the NewHampshire brewery, which the public can visit. The Clydesdales were formally introduced toAnheuser-Busch onApril 7, 1933, to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition.AugustA. Busch Jr. commemorated the day by sending a hitch thundering down Pestalozzi Street carrying the first case of post-Prohibition beer from the St. Louis brewery. The company now has breeders in the states and imports Clydesdales from Scotland. Jesse said the company is always looking for the right horses because it only hitches males to the wagon. Of the 40 foals born each year, half are females, she said. "This narrows the pool immediately," she said. She also said that many Clydesdales are born with two black legs and the company only uses horses with white legs. "We're looking for white feet and a black mane and tail," she said. "The body color can vary, but our horses are typically darker." Whereas Rudy is a wheel horse that wears a piece of harness that the other horses do not to help maneuver the wagon, the team also has body, swing and lead horses. The body horses assist in turns and are also among the strongest horses on the team. The horses closer to the front of the team are smaller and don't have to work hard pulling, but have to be fast. Jesse, who has driven the Clydesdales before, said the wagon always has two drivers because winding routes can be tiresome. Jesse, who lives in Illinois, travels with the team for eight months out of the year. "The team travels year-round and takes breaks back at the stable," she said. The Clydesdale came to the area at the behest of Ted Clark, of Hamilton, who is the coordinator of the Trenton St. Patrick's Day parade, which was rescheduled from March 8 as a result of inclement weather. Clark had his grandchild RyanMatthis, 4, and his sister, Devin, 2, at the stable where they were watching the horses take a bath. "They were kind enough to have stalls for us at this brand-new beautiful farm," Clark said. To get the Clydesdales to appear in the parade, he had sent a letter toAllieMeehan, vice president of Ritchie&Page Distributing Co., Anheuser-Busch's local distributor. "I felt the parade needed to have something exciting to bring more people in, and there is nothing more exciting than the Clydesdales." Clark said. "People of all ages love the Clydesdales. They aremagnificent." Meehan said wholesalers get a lot of requests for the Clydesdales each year and fulfill them based on the horses' schedules. "We were lucky this time," he said. Birch Creek Farm owners Joe and Judy Jannuzzelli were happy to accommodate the team. Their daughter, Denise Williams, of Cream Ridge, said that the family felt honored and privileged to have the horses stay at their farm for a week. "They go into the field in themorning and play together and then they come in and get cleaned up," Williams said. BirchCreek Farmhas been in operation in CreamRidge for four years. The farmhas existed in the local area for 30 years and is a breeding farmthat also offers stables to champion racehorses in need of rest and relaxation. "We like having them here," Williams said. "Horses are our life." Clydesdales first came to America in the mid-1800s when Canadians of Scottish descent brought themto farmers to use because they could pull loads weighing over 1 ton at a walking speed of 5 mph. Today, Clydesdales are used primarily in the United States for breeding and show.