PHILLIPSBURG – Six beautiful equines will be part of the show at the 90th annual Kansas Biggest Rodeo in Phillipsburg.
Broken Spoke Clydesdales, Winfield, Kansas, will bring their six-horse Clydesdale hitch pulling a freight wagon to the rodeo Aug. 1 to 3.
Mark DeCoudres, owner of the horses and the hitch, got involved with Clydesdales eight years ago. It had always been a dream of his to drive a team. He had grown up around horses but didn’t know how to drive or harness them. He bought a team of two and left them at the seller’s house, returning each weekend to get lessons on how to harness and drive them.
It wasn’t easy to learn to drive a hitch, DeCoudres said. “I remember one time,” he recalled, “I was driving four. I didn’t have my lines (how the horses are controlled) just right, and the next thing I knew, the lead horse was turned completely around, looking at me.”
Each pair of horses has its own job when pulling a load. Jackson and Brock, the team closest to the wagon, are the wheel team. Brody and Bridget, the team in the middle, are the swing team. Divinity and Diesel are the lead team. Usually the wheel horses weigh more than the lead horses, and the lead horses are more athletic and have to travel farther than the wheel team when making turns.
The horses eat about forty pounds of hay and fifteen pounds of grain or pelleted feed a day. DeCoudres will bring them to Phillipsburg in a semi, and they will be kept in temporary pens at the rodeo grounds. The public is invited to see them during the days of the rodeo. That is DeCoudres’ favorite part. “I like interacting with the people. There are children who would never be able to be up and close to a horse like that, if we weren’t there. Even for the older people, it brings back memories of their childhood, when their granddad or parents used draft horses on the farm.”
One of DeCoudres’ Clydesdales loves to be “loved on.” Jackson is special, DeCoudres said. “I lead him out (with the public) and throw a lead rope over his neck. Hundreds of people come to pet him and he’s just a gentle giant. I sit there and watch.”
The horses are huge, but they are gentle. DeCoudres’ grandson helps with them. “It’s hard to believe you can have an eight-year-old grandson lead a horse across the yard and yet you can hitch them up to the wagon and they have so much power to pull.” Clydesdales can pull three times their weight, which works out to 6,000 lbs. each.
The Broken Spoke Clydesdales have entertained at rodeos and events across the nation. They will entertain each night of the Phillipsburg, Kansas rodeo, August 1-3. The rodeo starts at 8 pm each night. Tickets go on sale July 1 at Heritage Insurance in Phillipsburg during office hours (8-5 pm; closed from noon to 1 pm). They can be purchased over the phone by calling 785.543.2448. They range in price from $15 to $18 for adults and $11-14 for children ages 3-12.
For more information, visit the website at www.KansasBiggestRodeo.com.