Butch and Sundance are both Clydesdale horses. Sundance is a little bigger and weighs about 2100 lbs. He is 9 years old. Butch is about 1900 plus lbs. and is about 7 years old. Sundance does more of the work so Butch needs reminding. The driver uses some verbal coaching and a little switch to remind Butch to pick it up somewhat regularly. These two powerhouses live at the stables of KB Horses near Heber, Utah.
Yesterday 10 of our family members road in the wagon pulled by these powerful animals. The wagon weighed about 1600 lbs and their were two drivers. So that means 12 people on this trip.
Both horses are able to pull 1 and 1/2 times their own weight so they could easily pull the 1600 lbs of wagon and had the capacity to pull 4400 lbs of happy folks. The good news is we had plenty of capacity left.
There are over 30 horses at this facility and only a very few are Clydesdales. Horses are proud animals and they are very social. When this wagon goes down a road past another ranch it passes a large field that has many horses, cows and some ducks in it all together. The cows and horses don't mix but the horses have those that lead, and those that follow. It is clear that you know your place if your a horse. The ducks really are there for the large pond and a few sheep sort of mix in also.
When we go by this field in the wagon the horses run to the fence by the road and sort of prance alone with us as we pass, raising their heads, and raising their feet higher than normal.
Yesterday as we returned to the stables we passed by a fenced area where the other horses owned by KB Horses were at. One was a younger horse, new to the stable. His marking were very interesting with lots of white and chestnut color covering his body. He was young, and looked very strong. He had a lot of energy and quickly came down near the fence, by the road, and then just tossed his head back, lifted his feet high, and did some serious prancing. Obviously a big showoff.
