Clydesdales
Our Express Clydesdales are settled atop a hill that overlooks Yukon, Oklahoma on the historical Chisholm Trail. The barn in which the horses are housed was originally built in 1936 by H.I Grimes, an Oklahoma City oilman and farmer. In 1997, Bob Funk purchased the barn that was in disrepair, at which point he hired Amish Carpenters from Shipshewana, Indiana to restore the barn as close to its original appearance. Today the barn stands in beauty, with the original hardware, brass fixtures, and an upstairs loft adorned with chandeliers.
History
Clydesdales are big, powerful, refined draft horses named after and imported from Clydesdale, Scotland. Historically, they were bred to work in the fields and on the streets in the cities. In 1826 the first recorded use of the term “Clydesdale” was documented. The breed was developed from Flemish stallions imported to Scotland and crossed with local mares. The word “Clydesdale” originated from an area around the River Clyde in Scotland.
Characteristics
While the breed usually varies in different shades of bay, chestnut, and black, only 10% of the Clydesdale population in North America is black and white in color. Express Clydesdales is made up of these rare black and white beauties. These gentle giants typically stand 18 to 19 hands high and weigh nearly a ton. They’re beautiful, graceful, and extremely even tempered. When hitched together as a team, it’s comparable watching a dramatic ballet! As owner Mr. Funk will tell you, “It was love at first sight.”
Express Franchise Events
Express Employment Professional Events vary anywhere from National Parades, Exhibition Events to Hospital visits. They’ve also had the extreme honor of chauffeuring the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate, during a visit to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 2011.
Parades Around North America
The Clydesdales also competed at an elite level against other draft horse hitches across the United States and Canada. They were awarded the 2015 World Champion Six and Eight-Horse Hitch, at the World Clydesdale Show.
While the Clydesdales continue campaigning for Express Employment Professionals and Express Ranches as an Exhibition hitch, Express Clydesdales recently combined forces the Percheron draft breed as their competitive hitch. Learn more about Our Percherons.
The Express Connection
In 1983, Express Employment Professionals was co-founded by Bob Funk. Today, the company annually employs over 552,000 people across more than 825 franchise locations worldwide. Their long-term goal is at the heart of their company's vision, to help as many people as possible find good jobs by helping as many clients as possible find good people.
Express Employment Professionals have utilized the Express Clydesdales as a neighborhood marketing tool for the Express brand since 1998. It was then when Bob Funk visited the longstanding Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, Saskatchewan. While there, he met and fell in love with the rare and beautiful black and white Clydesdales. Mr. Funk saw an opportunity to bring something entirely new and different to his home state of Oklahoma, a state steeped in its own rich equestrian history. He intuitively knew that the Clydesdales would become a unique tourist attraction. Not only do the Express Clydesdales meet thousands of visitors each year at home in the beautiful and historic Clydesdale barn but they travel across North America as good-will ambassadors for Express Employment Professionals and Express Ranches.
Since 1991, Express Ranches has grown into the largest purebred seedstock operation in America, selling the most registered Angus and Hereford bulls and females in the country during its six annual sales at the Yukon ranch.
Since 1999 the Express Clydesdales have been busy at work across North America promoting Express Employment at franchise events, parades and competitive horse shows.
The Cart
The Team
The Unicorn
The 4-Horse Hitch
The 6-Horse Hitch
The 8-Horse Hitch
