No matter how many I've seen, and between pictures and in person that's a lot, any Clydesdales not red and white give me pause. I guess Budweiser imprinted me at an early age, before I was old enough to realize some of the other color ones I saw at fairs were also Clydesdales.
The PA State Fair, called the Farm Show, has a bunch of competitions using the heavy horses. They televise on cable the draft (weight pulling) and hitch (pulling various vehicles) competitions every year. In one contest they have to back the team up to a sledge, hook it to the harnesses already on the horses, maneuver around the ring stopping to load bales of hay on the sledge at several stations, then race back to the start. They're a lot of fun to watch as in the heat of competition the drivers screw up as much or more than the horses.
Most of these horses at the Farm Show are kept and trained for competitions at the county fairs during the summer/fall. Much of the work they do on the farm is for exercise and is usually done with a tractor or the regular working teams. It will cost the farmer thousands of dollars a year to keep and train his show team. Like owning a sports team, talent casts money, and big talent costs big money.
Oh, when they step on your foot, hopefully on very soft ground where your foot can sink a little, what can you do? Same thing war is good for, absolutely nothin'.
You can't pull it out, you can't get away, you're trapped until the old gray mare decides to move. You can beg, plead, swear, holler, and punch, but do you really want to startle or worse piss off, a 2000 lb animal that you currently can't get away from?
