Jen Brodal/MDN All 10 Budweiser Clydesdales are hitched to the wagon at the 70th anniversary celebration for Magic City Beverage Co. in Minot on Thursday. David West, team handler, assembles the horses.

A fleet of semis carrying Budweiser’s esteemed Clydesdales arrived at the North Dakota State Fair in Minot this week.

Magic City Beverage Co. brought the Clydesdales to Minot for its 70th anniversary party on Thursday evening.

Six caretakers accompany the 10 celebrity horses that travel 300 days a year or approximately 10 to 11 months out of the year, said Brady Janssen, Budweiser team handler.

The crew is touring around the country in three semis and a passenger van. One semi holds four horses and the tent and stalls, a second carries the other six Clydesdales and the third semi holds the wagon and supplies, said Janssen.

The Clydesdales ride in comfort across the country. At most of their bigger stops the horses spend nights in stables with arenas where they can be let loose to run. The horses are walked several times daily if not hitched or resting in tents.

“They eat a lot,” said David West, Budweiser team handler.

Dalmatians have been coach dogs since 1950, although Bud and Gus, this team’s Dalmatians, are quite new to this team. They are great protectors and companions to the Clydesdales and ride atop the wagons seated next to the coachmen, said Janssen.

All 10 horses are 1,500-2,400 pounds each, have four white legs, stand 6 feet tall, are at least 4 years old and have a white blaze and black tail and mane, said West. The 10 visiting Minot are named Ace, Bud, Cash, Champion, Denver, Hansl, Jeff, Jet, Rocco and Patriot.

The Budweiser Clydesdales have three teams of 10 Clydesdales, representing the West Coast out of Fort Collins, Colorado; East Coast out of Merrimack, New Hampshire; and this team visiting Minot, the Midwest out of St. Louis, Missouri. Budweiser is the major sponsor of major league baseball, and every year on opening day the Clydesdales run the outside warning track of the St. Louis Cardinals, Busch Stadium, Janssen said.

The Budweiser Clydesdales got their start many years ago. In 1933, as a celebration of the end of prohibition, the Busch sons surprised their father, August A. Busch Sr., with a six-horse wagon hitch. The hitched Clydesdales and wagon became Budweiser’s symbolic marketing model after making a historic delivery to the White House. The six hitched Clydesdales and wagon delivered beer to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, reenacting the first delivery after prohibition, Janssen said.

The schedule of the Clydesdales for fair week includes a full hitch during today’s North Dakota State Parade. The horses are available for viewing daily on the west side of the fairgrounds.