One aspect of next year's Carnival in New Orleans is already guaranteed to be bigger than this year's.
The New Orleans Mounted Police Unit now includes an authentic Clydesdale.
The unit's Commander, Sgt. Joseph Catalanotto, says it's the real thing, from Budweiser's Grant's Farm.
"He is an authentic full bred Clydesdale right off of the farm in St. Louis."
The gelding will be two years old on April 1st, and already stands at about 17 hands.
"He's a beast," says Catalanotto. "And, he's got about another five years to grow."
Mature males often stand taller than 18 hands and weigh up to 2,200 pounds.
But, the big horse fell just short of being hitched to the Budweiser beer wagon.
"The only knock on him was his color. He's gonna be a roan...kind of white, kind of red, kind of brown. So he wouldn't match the rest of the team," said Catalanotto.
But, the NOPD doesn't intend to let the big draft horse forget his heritage.
"We're gonna name him 'Bud'. How about that?"
Catalanotto says no other police department in the world has one of these authentic, full bred Clydesdale's direct from Budweiser's farm.
And, he's about to get a buddy.
"We're going to buy a yearling that they're holding for us up in St. Louis, and we're going to put hands on him as soon as we can get him and start breaking him," says the commander.
"We're going to try to train him to do police work. But, then we're also going to assemble a two-team hitch. I'm going to find a wagon and we're going to do that so we can use them for what they're really bred for," he says.
A draft horse is a bigger, thicker horse...generally used for pulling things.
"But, we're also going to step outside the bounds a little bit an see if we can get them involved in some police work."
Catalanotto says the horse should make for great crowd control, because of its size and gentle demeanor.
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