Scotch Bottom Toe Grabs? Budweiser Clydesdale Ads Go to Great Lengths to Lead the Pack of Commercials for 2009 Super Bowl

by Fran Jurga | 1 February 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog/Hoofcare & Lameness Journal

It looks like the racing segment of the new Budweiser Clydesdale ad was filmed on Polytrack or ProRide or some sort of artificial surface, perhaps at Del Mar or Santa Anita racetracks in California. For years, they pulled the starting gate off and onto the track for each race at Santa Anita.

As promised, here are some special clips from Budweiser, showing just a few highlights of the three or possibly four Budweiser Clydesdales ads aired on tonight's Super Bowl. I've seen two of them so far, in the first half of the game.

Here's a clip from the "generations" commercial, honoring the 75th Anniversary of the Budweiser Clydesdales. It was filmed partly right on the streets of New York City. The narrator sounds like my friend James Ferrie, who shoes Clydesdales in Ayr, Scotland. Could it be?



And how about that lovestruck Clydesdale? How on earth, though, did they film that Clydesdale jumping over the canyon! That Clyde really had good form! And what a Hollywood ending!



And don't forget the Dalmatian:



Did you ever wonder how the commercials are made? Here's a video clip that goes behind the scenes for the racetrack segments, and you'll meet director Joe Pytka:

These commercials are the highlights of the Super Bowl each year for many people, thanks to our friends, human and equine, at

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Super Sunday Video Humor: Sneak Previews of Racing Clydesdales and Charging Ostriches on Tonight's Fun Commercials

by Fran Jurga | 1 February 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

The Budweiser Clydesdales at the track? You have to see this!

It's Super Sunday across America and all through the land, we all waited for half time and Bruce Springsteen's band...

And what from our wondrous eyes could not hide, but three brand new commercials about a Budweiser Clyde.

But I soon was laughing, like a February Fool, about a dog food commercial called simply "Dogs Rule"

You can watch it too, you'll catch the vibe, and pronounce to the world, "I think that's my tribe!"

Today's a tossup, not between Arizona and Pittsburgh, but between Bruce Sprinsteen and the Budweiser Clydesdales. Is there another reason for 50 million people to plant themselves in front of the television tonight?

Pedigree dog food just might give the Clydes and the Boss a run for their money. The new commercial and web site "Dogs Rule" will be a hoot to those of us who work around animals and the people who love them. Pedigree thought it was making an outrageous takeoff on exotic pets, but, ummmmm, actually, I think they are pretty close to capturing some of the "unique" people and pets I've met along the way.

Pedigree is doing their Super Bowl ads (at how much for 30 seconds? $3 million?) as a public service to encourage pet adoption. If you go to the new web site (www.dogsrule.com) you can download an .app for your iPhone and the company will donate dog food to animal shelters every time someone watches a video on the site.



The best part is that they have made it possible for you to watch four character development videos that give you some insight into the individual pets and their quirky owners featured in the commercial: Rusty the rhino, Bruno the ostrich, The Boar, and Max the Water Buffalo. It's a great laugh.

This is all in good fun. I hope you will watch the original commericial here, go to dogsrule.com and click around so some dog food flows to the needy ones. I wish someone would do this for horses in need of homes.

And don't forget to watch for the Clydesdales! One commercial has a lovesick Clyde and another honors the hitch on its 75th anniversary year. Later today I will post some sneak-peek footage from Budweiser about how (and where!) they shot this year's great commercials.

In the meantime, have a laugh with Pedigree...and don't forget to consider giving a shelter dog a good home, right next to you on the couch on Super Sunday.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Hoofcare and Lameness Journal is often published under the cover of fog amidst the comings and goings and launchings and sinkings and leakings of the old industrial waterfront in Gloucester, Massachusetts. If you come to visit, bring your life jacket...and you'd better like fish.