Budweiser’s Iconic Clydesdale Horses Get to Keep Their Tails

Sep 24

Sep 24 Budweiser’s Iconic Clydesdale Horses Get to Keep Their Tails

The Clydesdale horse – featured in Budweiser commercials since forever – will no longer have their tails lopped off, according to the brewer. The move to discontinue “tail docking” comes as the company faced pressure from animal-rights activists and veterinary groups to end the cruel practice.

“The safety and well-being of our beloved Clydesdales is our top priority,” an Anheuser-Busch spokeswoman said in a statement this week. “The practice of equine tail docking was discontinued earlier this year.”

Animal-loving group PETA led the campaign to force Budweiser’s hand. This year PETA went undercover to document the tail amputations at the Clydesdales’ breeding and training facilities in Missouri.

In September PETA and other animal-welfare groups wrote to Anheuser-Busch InBev Europe Zone CEO, Jason Warner: “This unnecessary procedure—which involves severing the spine—is a permanent disfigurement that causes lifelong pain, affects the horses’ balance, and leaves them without natural protection from flies and other biting insects. Horses also depend on their tails to communicate with herdmates, and removing all or part of their tailbones interferes with this important function.”

The animals, usually presented as a group of eight draft horses pulling a beer wagon, underwent this cruel procedure to keep their tails from getting tangled up in the hitch equipment. But braiding or wrapping the tails can easily achieve the same effect.

The Clydesdales were introduced to the American public in 1933 to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition. The hitch of eight horses carried the first case of post-Prohibition beer from the St. Louis brewery down Pestalozzi Street. Since then the majestic horses have appeared at parades, sporting events, and Super Bowl commercials, including a 2022 spot directed by Academy Award-winning director Chloé Zhao.

The Clydesdales will no doubt continue to enjoy all that fame, only now they get to do it with their tails.