HOUSTON — Alongside thousands of people at the 69th Annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade will be arguably the world’s most famous horses: the Budweiser Clydesdales.
The parade in downtown Houston is one of about 500 events that three traveling teams attend across North America, and occasionally overseas, every year.
A team from Fort Collins, Colo., will show up to the parade Thursday a couple of hours before its 9 a.m. start time. However, they’ll start their day at 4 a.m. when trainers will feed the horses, groom them and clean their stalls. Those 10 horses and their gear will travel from their stable in North Houston to downtown on three customized semi-trucks.
All Budweiser Clydesdales must meet strict appearance and temperament requirements and spend a year at a Missouri training farm. The Clydesdales also follow a strict diet that includes 50 pounds of hay per day.
Shelby Zarobinski, who’s been a Clydesdale handler for four years, says she’s most excited to see the impact these horses have on Thursday’s crowd.
“You show up to a parade like our Thanksgiving Day Parade this week and just see the reactions on the faces,” Zarobinski said. “It spans all generations. You’ll see grandparents taking their kids to the parade and their grandkids.”
Dalmatians will travel with each Clydesdale hitch in the parade. In the early days of brewing, they were bred and trained to protect the horses and guard the wagon when the driver went inside to make deliveries.
One of the Clydesdale horses will make an appearance from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Friday at the Kroger at 2150 Spring Stuebner Road in Spring. Afterwards, the team will travel to an event in Rogers, Ark.
The 69th Annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade starts at 9 a.m. Thursday in downtown Houston and is free. Reserved seating is also available for $25. For more information on the parade, click here.