Clydesdales On Parade

Last Saturday we attended the annual rodeo parade in Cottonwood Falls.  The Cottonwood Falls area has a lot of ranches where horses are still used to work the cattle, and every year many of the locals ride their horses in the parade. If you have a horse and can stay on it, you can be in the parade. So it’s only fitting that the Budweiser Clydesdales were there this year to join in the horsey fun.

And here they come, around the corner on the brick main street.

The Chase county courthouse, built in 1873, makes the perfect backdrop for the parade.

Here’s the 1st pair (with the 2nd pair peeking in from the right).

1st Pair

The 2nd pair:

2nd Pair

Not sure what the official duty of the Budweiser guy there was. He was carrying a large white rag and walked alongside the horses for the full length of the parade.

Here’s the 3rd pair (with the 4th peeking in from the right):

3rd pair

Here’s the 4th pair:

4th pair

And here’s the wagon:

Here’s the team altogether: 

(To enlarge, click on the picture and it will take you to a new page. From there, click on the picture again to make it full size. )

I could feel the vibration in the street as they passed by. It was amazing.

And there they go up the street:

And here come the tractor trailers that are used to transport the horses, wagon, and all the equipment.

There are actually three of these, but I only could get two of them in the picture.

Five horses ride in each trailer, and the third is used for the equipment.

It was a pretty neat experience to see the horses up close. I had seen them back in Missouri years ago, but for Harland this was a first. He reacted the way most people probably do:

“Those horses are so big!”

Up Next:  I’ll have more pics of the parade for you.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo