The ace photographers at the Post-Dispatch have crafted an impressive collection of photos and videos chronicling the Budweiser Clydesdales, Anheuser-Busch’s favorite animals and arguably its most effective marketing tools.

Thanks to hours of behind-the-scenes access to Anheuser-Busch’s facilities in St. Louis and mid-Missouri, we have footage of some of the usual suspects. There’s mega-horse Jake and Cooper, the little foal, but other horses make appearances as well. Trust us, these shots are too cool not to check out. Take a minute, click the links and brighten your day.

Click here for the photo gallery, here for video of “Big Jake,” here for a piece on the Clydesdales’ royal treatment, here to meet Cooper the baby Clydesdale, and here for behind-the-scenes footage of the Clydesdales on a Super Bowl commercial shoot.

It was fascinating to see the care that Anheuser-Busch puts into the Clydesdales, from the flowers woven into their manes, to the cushy tractor-trailers that transport them to events around the country, to the scrutiny paid to each frame of Super Bowl commercials. Why does the brewer invest so much time, attention and money to horses?

“They’re very crucial to the image” of the company, said Jan Slater, a branding expert and the head of the department of advertising at the University of Illinois. “The proof of that is in the investment that the company and the Busch family has made in that franchise. From 1933 until now, they’ve been a real symbol of the company.”

On TV, Anheuser-Busch has historically been “very careful” about how the Clydesdales are portrayed, said Slater. “The Clydesdale is always the hero,” she said. “The Clydesdales always come through and are the heroes. They are a very important symbol of what Anheuser-Busch the brand is trying to stand for.”