Clydesdale Baby Mac shows us his “Full Frontal”! Fans want to know if Mac is going to be featured at halftime this Sunday!
Is the “Full Frontal” a teaser for horse lovers? Is there a Super Bowl commercial in store for Mac, along with the other Budweiser Clydesdales this year?
Clydesdale baby ‘Mac’ of the famous Budweiser team had better start shining his horseshoes. Already a celebrity at only a week old, Mac may be starting his walk of fame at the Super Bowl.
On Tuesday, January 26, Warm Springs Ranch welcomed a brand new Budweiser Clydesdale colt, just in time for the 2016 Super Bowl. Anheuser-Busch reports that the new baby’s name is Mac.
A strapping, robust colt in the traditional color of bay with white chrome, Mac will join a herd of over 160 other Clydesdales inducted into the Budweiser family. The ranch’s Supervisor John Soto is already calling him a “perfect prospect” for the iconic equine team.
He Can Barely Walk, But He’s A (Future) Budweiser Clydesdale – Newsy https://t.co/uLGezfepPU via @YouTube
— Nancy J. Bailey (@cliffysmom) January 30, 2016
Mac has been featured on a host of news stations and in the first hours of life, is already a celebrity.
CUTENESS OVERLOAD: Budweiser Clydesdales welcome newest member to herd. https://t.co/JV3YBSRFLv pic.twitter.com/IdfiIsNm8L
— FoxNashville (@FOXNashville) January 27, 2016
Warm Springs Ranch is a sprawling 300-acre farm in Boonville, Missouri. It boasts a state-of-the-art breeding facility, where between 30 and 40 foals are born each season. Those that are bay in color and sporting the proper markings — the four white socks and full blazed face — are candidates for a future with the team and potential stars in the creative Super Bowl commercials.
The farm offers tours to guests, which last about an hour and a half. It gives the public an opportunity to view the mares and stallions firsthand, as well as a glimpse of some of the famous gear: custom-made harnesses, luxury transport vehicles, and a a 1903 Studebaker-built beer wagon. A full staff cares for the horses, making sure they are in prime physical condition, and doing all the hands-on maintenance required in a life with horses: trimming feet, worming them regularly, and scooping what amounts to boatloads of manure. The amount of feed required, especially for the hitch horses, is, of course, copious. Each consumes 20 to 25 quarts of grain. That’s enough to fill a five-gallon bucket. Add to that 50 to 60 pounds of hay, and 30 gallons of water per day.
The Clydesdale is a lot of horse.
And yet, despite its imposing stature, the breed is known as “the Gentle Giant.” Generally standing over 16 to 18 hands tall (64 to 72 inches or 163 to 183 cm) and weighing 1,800 to 2,000 pounds, this stately, compelling draft horse is known for its amiable disposition. The Clydesdale descends from the Great Flemish Horse, bred by farmers who lived along the River Clyde in Scotland. The Clydesdales became linked to the Busch family in 1933 .
“Beaten and battered by the Great Depression, the USA needed a sign of better days to come. It came when Prohibition was repealed. The entire country was making merry. That spring, two brothers, August A. Busch, Jr. and Adolphus Busch III, who were descended from a line of brewery owners, planned a special surprise for their father. They gifted August Busch, Sr. with a six-horse-hitch: His first Clydesdales.”
The Busch family knew they had something special. That same month, they arranged for a second six-horse-hitch to be driven in New York City, jingling down the streets to the Empire State Building, for a ceremony to thank the governor for his efforts to end Prohibition. They presented him with a case of Budweiser. That team toured the eastern states and managed to arrange a visit to Washington, D.C., where they reenacted a delivery of a case of Budweiser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“Following their visit to the Capitol, they toured the Midwest, serving up goodwill — and beer — as they went.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Being linked with American history for 82 years, the Budweiser Clydesdales have a busy schedule. They are in constant demand. The staff tours ten months out of the year, with a rotating group of horses and three big travel-trailers. One would think little Mac has his work cut out for him. He has some massive horseshoes to fill. After all, the Super Bowl commercialsalone are the whole reason some people even bother to watch the game. So with that in mind, there are four basic requirements before Mac can be hitched:
- He must be a gelding at least four years of age.
- He must stand 72 inches at the shoulder when fully mature.
- He must weigh between 1,800 and 2,300 pounds.
- He must have a bay coat, four white legs, a white blaze, and a black mane and tail.
For someone at his tender age, one out of four ain’t bad.
[Image via Anheuser-Busch]