This reporter has found that Cooper the Clydesdale foal has soft hair and enjoys being petted

Now THAT was fun. For Lager Heads‘ latest contribution to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, we went to Anheuser-Busch’s St. Louis stables and a farm west of Columbia, Mo. We fed apples to Jake, possibly the world’s tallest Clydesdale, and petted one-week-old Cooper, the first Clydesdale foal born at Anheuser-Busch’s breeding farm in Boonville, Mo.

We wanted to get a glimpse inside Anheuser-Busch’s Clydesdale operations. Why? The horses are the company’s best-known (and best-liked) symbols and the foundation of Budweiser’s marketing. They provide family-friendly entertainment, and Anheuser-Busch believes they convey strength, tradition, heritage and a bunch of other positive connotations with which the company wants to associate.

But the Clydesdales also represent another aspect of Anheuser-Busch that fans hope doesn’t fade as the company takes on some of the characteristics of new owner InBev: A willingness to partner up with other entities to support a common goal. Anheuser-Busch has manifested that attitude by putting on St. Louis beer festivals to improve beer’s reputation for sophistication, and sponsoring horse shows to boost public awareness of the Clydesdale breed.

Several “horse people” told Lager Heads that the Clydesdale breed is alive and well in the United States largely because of the efforts of Anheuser-Busch. Decades ago, as tractors were replacing horses on American farms and the number of Clydesdales and other draft horses in the U.S. was dropping, Anheuser-Busch supplied stallions free of charge to help replenish the breed. Breeders could bring mares to A-B’s stallion barn to get serviced. The result: baby Clydesdales!

“They were very important in keeping the breed alive in the country, when the draft horse was pretty much dying,” said Lynn Telleen, editor of the Draft Horse Journal. “It was a very important stimulus for the breed.”

Now, with the the eight-horse Budweiser hitch an American icon, more people see the Clydesdales than any other draft horses. A lot of people are inspired by the Budweiser Clydesdales to get into the draft horse industry. Even if they end up trading other breeds such as Percherons and Belgians, their initial impetus was the Budweiser Clydesdales, Telleen said.

“I hear that all the time, and not just from people who go into the Clydesdale industry,” he said. Of the Budweiser Clydesdales: “Their visibility is important. The breed would not be where it is today without Anheuser-Busch.”

Anheuser-Busch has supported the annual Clydesdale sale in Springfield, Ill. And up in Wisconsin in late 2007, the company supplied money and a Budweiser hitch to help support the first Clydesdale “world show” in the U.S. in over 100 years.

“We’ve had a tremendous relationship with Anheuser-Busch over the years,” said Cathy Behn, a second-generation horse breeder and secretary of the Clydesdale Breeders of the U.S.A. “Budweiser has set a really high standard and pride thing for the Clydesdale horses.”

In 2011, there is supposed to be another world show, “and we hope they’ll be right there alongside us again,” Behn said of Anheuser-Busch.