Tea With The Clydesdales

 Another beautiful morning in Gilbert, AZ

After recuperating for a day from our Route 66 trip, we had our next appointment for Saturday Morning.

 Every year just before Mother's Day, the USA Clydesdale Preservation Foundation in Gilbert has a tea with the Clydesdales. That sounded like a really wonderful time, so off we went.

 

Rebecca is in charge of the foundation and is trying to recover from Valley Fever, but she and her volunteers really put on a wonderful food spread and all the tea you could drink.

 Rebecca talked about the difference between a rescue and a foundation. The foundation raises money which is then passed onto rescue organizations. The foundation does not rescue horses. She also gave us a lot of information on Clydesdales and told us that there are only about 5000 of these horses left in the world. 

Veronica sat at our table with us and was so knowledgeable about the horses. She has volunteered with them for several years. We were glad she decided to sit with us and share her knowledge.

As farmers increased their use of machines, draft horses soon got replaced. And as big as they are, their upkeep is very expensive. The foundation is working to make sure Clydesdales do not become extinct. 

The Foundation had 6 Clydesdales but four of the horses were all about the same age and all died within the last year or so. So she only had two horses for us to visit with. She just bought a third one, but that horse is not ready to be with the public. 

Her Clydesdales do not actually look like the Budweiser horses that you are used to seeing on commercials and at shows. Those horses are bred to have specific coloring and markings. Rebecca's horses are the much more common ones that you would see working on a farm.

You can see Pat's hand in this picture as she's trying to convince this girl to come closer.

Finally she gets close enough so Pat can touch her.

This was such a great way to spend a beautiful day. There were lots of little ones that they let feed the horses through the fence. I was a little disappointed that we weren't able to get closer to the horses and to have our pictures taken with them. But it was still amazing to see these gorgeous animals up close.