Driving Thursday Tuesday
(This is the post I meant to do last week [Paws]. I couldn’t face the amount of photo editing involved.)
More Clydesdales [Horses in the City].
This time, we both went, specifically to watch them hitch. What follows is a long, photo-heavy post that will mainly interest harness geeks.
Attention to detail: a chain across the ramp to keep the public from wandering up. While the horses waited to unload, all the Budweiser folk gathering in the harness truck. Most of the public was up by the front trailers looking at the horses. I got the feeling that the harness bay was where one went to get away from the crowd for a few minutes.
Only the wheelers wear britching, which attached under the belly. The other six did not have as much leather under their barrels. The leaders sported extra bling.
I marveled aloud at the amount of manpower swirling around the horses. Greg pointed out that many men – it was all men – were unloading, cleaning, and putting on the gear, but only one man did the actual hitching. He made the final attachments on all 8 horses. He arranged all the reins. He turned out to be the driver.
As soon as the music started, those horses were ready to move; although excited in a subdued and well-behaved manner. I wonder, if you work on the hitch, does the Budweiser jingle drive you crazy, or do you simply stop hearing it? I’ve had it running through my head the entire time I’ve been working on this post.
What surprised me the most? The enormous noise that 32 oversized horseshoes make on tarmac.
If you aren’t the lead dog, the view never changes.
The end.
#followthehitch
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 