EXPRESS CLYDESDALES Head west on old Route 66 to Yukon,
and take a trip back through time. Pick your era-the Mother Road, cattle drives of the old West or maybe even knights in shining armor. After driving through downtown Yukon, go north on Garth Brooks Boulevard, nothing special the fi rst mile. But after crossing the North Canadian River, you enter a jaw-dropping landscape. Everything about Express Ranch is BIG- the land, the white fences that run on and on, the cattle roaming inside the fences, on a hill to the right the owner Bob Funk’s house, which looks more like a resort hotel and of course the horses. The Clydesdale
barn is straight ahead at the intersection of Garth Brooks and Wilshire.
Clydesdale horses are known as gentle
giants according to Josh Minshull, manager of the Express Personnel Clydesdales. It’s not their nature to be mean or aggressive. They’re social animals. They like people, like the attention, and they know when they’re getting dressed up and going to town.
The Express Personnel Clydesdales
get dressed up and go out often. They participate in competitions, parades, rodeos and many other events all across the
country. What you see is distinctive and rare. All are black with white faces and legs. They also attend competitions around the country, having recently won the National 8-horse hitch championship. In July they will travel to the world championships at the Calgary Stampede.
Introduced to America in the 1870’s,
Clydesdales continued to earn their living hauling goods, pulling barges on rivers and farming. But time was catching up. Gunpowder long ago ended their warring ways, and trucks and tractors doomed their peaceful labor.