CLYDESDALES MAKE FIRST APPEARANCE IN 14 YEARS

Getting people out to the SEMO District Fair should be easy for the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales. After all, the Clydesdales convinced driver Jim Hilgendorf to put off the blissful retreat of retirement.

"The Clydesdales, it's just that tradition," said Hilgendorf, 49, who worked in the grocery and convenience store business until he began driving promotional horses in 1981, first for two other companies and then Anheuser-Busch about last Christmas. "Everybody in America knows the Clydesdales," he said.

"They thrill millions of people every year. We hardly ever get a negative comment about the Clydesdales."

Hilgendorf, a Goshen, Ind., resident who grew up around horses on a farm in southern Minnesota, will drive the Clydesdales in the SEMO District Fair parade scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday. The public may view the eight-horse gelding hitch at the fair Sunday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

SEMO District Fair Association President Pete Poe said the horses will also perform in the grandstand area in a free show each day at 6 p.m. and will be in the livestock area all week.

During the week of the fair, Hilgendorf, the hitch's assistant driver, will be sitting in for lead driver Davie Pike, who will be on vacation. A groom, a beginning driver, will be in Hilgendorf's place as assistant driver.

Hilgendorf said that before he began driving the Clydesdales he planned on retiring. It's something he's always wanted to do, he said. He said he enjoys the horses and being able to work with them in a first-class condition, and likes being part of the Clydesdales' 58 years of tradition.

"Not many people in the world have that opportunity," he said. "There's only been four or five guys who have driven this St. Louis hitch really as full-time lead drivers. So it's quite a thrill."

Fourteen years have passed since the Clydesdales appeared in Cape Girardeau, also at the SEMO District Fair, said spokespersons with River Eagle Distributing Co., of Cape Girardeau, the area's Anheuser-Busch distributor.

Hilgendorf said requests for the horses to appear at fairs, parades, festivals and grand openings number about 8,000 every year. Only 300 requests can be honored, or 100 by each of the three Clydesdales teams in St. Louis and on the East and West coasts. A fourth hitch is at Seaworld in Orlando, Fla.

When interviewed by telephone, Hilgendorf was with the horses at the grand opening of an Anheuser-Busch warehouse in Vinita, Okla.

"America just does not get enough of the Clydesdales," he said. "All kinds of people this year said, `I saw them for 40 years on television but I've never been able to see them in person.'"

There are children who have never seen any draft horses, he said, although that becomes less common with the teams going to smaller cities.

"They're just in awe of those big horses," he said of the children. "When they get a chance to see them (in real life) they can't believe it."

Riding and appearing along with the Clydesdales will be Miss Michelob Dry. But men, hold your horses Miss Michelob Dry is a dog, specifically, a 3-year-old Dalmation.

"We can't forget about the dog," said Hilgendorf. "We call her Mckie D. She's our mascot."

The team, the eldest member of which is 14 years of age, may also have with it a 3-year-old Clydesdale, he said. Usually the horses aren't used in the teams until they are 4 years old, said Hilgendorf. The horse will turn 4 in January.

Coming to Cape Girardeau would be a good experience for the horse because he won't have to be trucked too far, he said.

"This is kind of his maiden voyage; get him used to traveling a little bit. It will give him a chance to be in the stalls, get his legs washed every day, see the ferris wheel."

What the team won't have with it is its original Studebaker wagon, but rather a backup wagon. The Studebaker wagon, used since 1933 and the predecessor of the car made by the company with the same name, is being refurbished and painted, said Hilgendorf.

The Clydesdales' drivers not only drive the horses but take care of all of the horses' physical needs, including grooming, clipping, exercise and baths. They also polish the wagon, clean the horses' stalls and drive the tractor-trailers that transport the horses and equipment, the harness and the wagon.

Budweiser's Clydesdales, Hilgendorf said, are born and bred in St. Louis, on the West Coast, and in Ontario. Some are imported from Scotland.

A Colorado resident for 20 years who had a ranch with 400 head of cattle, Hilgendorf said he previously drove horses for the Heinz ketchup company out of Pittsburgh and a team of his own sponsored by a beer company "out west" he preferred not to name.