Just over a month ago, I traveled to Waterloo, Illinois with my wife, mother-in-law, and several other family members, for what ended up being THE BEST and most majestic of experiences! After months and months of saying how we wanted to, we FINALLY visited JFP Equine Clydesdales where we all had the privilege of participating in a Clydesdale Meet N’ Greet!
Let me tell you all what, this experience with these magnificent mammals left us all with smiles on our faces as BIG as these clydesdales are tall! It was most definitely an afternoon that I will never forget and one that I’m most eager to share…!
Melissa and my mother-in-law, Jane, sitting outside this simple and modest barn where the clydesdales are housed.
I’m holding a typical clydesdales horseshoe while Melissa is holding a regular horses’s horseshoe. As you can see from these alone, the differences are vast. Clydesdales are roughly 68-80 inches (17 to 20 “hands,” I’ll explain later the meaning of this later) tall at the withers (the bony ridge where the neck meets the back) whereas riding horses top out at about 60 inches (or 15 hands). Clydesdales also weigh at least 1,600 pounds, regular horses are about 1,000.
As you can see, these hooves mean business! Yes they look large in the photo, but until you see them up close and personal, you really don’t understand just how large clydesdales truly are!
Our Meet N’ Greet Host, Barclay, was simply the best! His knowledge about these incredible animals is second to none. He shared with us anything and everything one could possibly want to know about clydesdales and ensured that our experience was outstanding in every sense of the word. As you can see from this photo alone though, these magnificent clydesdales really are larger than life!
Melissa and this clydesdale sharing a beautiful and pensive moment.
It doesn’t necessarily look it in the photo, but it was pretty large in here, which makes sense given just how large the clydesdales are. I was incredibly impressed at how clean and neat the place was. The upkeep was stupendous!
I’m about 6’1″ and I don’t even come up to the clydesdales withers, which again is the shoulder blade on the horse, where the neck meets the shoulders, so to the immediate right of my head. Like I mentioned above, horses, including clydesdales, are measured in “hands.” As Barclay explained, hands are a traditional unit of measurement that originated from using the human hand to estimate a horses height. One hand is equivalent to four inches and this method of measurement has been used for centuries.
My mother-in-law, Jane, had the most magical experience. She’d been wanting to do this forever and was so thrilled that we were finally able to and even her already lofty expectations were exceeded! It really was surreal getting to be this close to these giant clydesdales.
There were a handful of barn cats roaming about and being big cat people, we absolutely loved them! They were all so sweet and cute and, for us, really amplified the experience.
The variety of clydesdale accessories and hardware was pretty vast and it was honestly awesome to see. It takes a lot to take these big guys out to fairs and shows, but they most definitely have anything and everything needed to do so here.
I found this notice to be an incredibly important one. While these beautiful clydesdales seem tranquil and docile, they’re still animals and respond to the energy they’re given. It’s important to conduct oneself in an appropriate manner when meeting and greeting these majestic creatures as it would be most heinous to upset them or cause these sweet babies any discomfort or fear.
We got to see them led out to the fields and it was just great getting to watch them roam on their own. They really are absolutely phenomenal.
At JFP Equine, the clydesdales are buddied up in the field, which we all really loved to see, so none of these sweet babies were left out on their own.
I don’t know that I’l lever be able to get over just how HUGE these clydesdales are and believe me when I tell you, I can’t imagine you will either after you’ve visited JFP Equine Clydesdales!
The ‘Backstage’ Clydesdale Meet N’ Greet is a forty-five minute meet and greet where you get the opportunity to get up close and personal with these majestic beauties. Participation and of course pictures are strongly encouraged! This tour allows for up to ten participants and the cost is just $25 per person. All minors must be accompanied by a paid adult and registration and waivers are required for any and all participants. THIS was our experience and let me tell you what, it was DEFINITELY worth the price! It couldn’t have been a better time!
The Ultimate Clydesdale Experience is a two hour tour-de-force that allows no more than four individuals at a time to maximize the intimacy of the experience. In addition to the obvious Clydesdale meet and greet, one will get the opportunity to groom and feed them! Cost is $99 per person. All minors must be accompanied by a paid adult and registration and waivers are required for any and all participants.
They also offer a Clydesdale Academy where under the watchful eye and guidance of JFP Equine Managers, Jim and Barclay, one will experience several sessions that are extremely interactive. These sessions are limited to just one or two individuals. These interactions are intended to ensure that one can be a Clydesdale Handler by the end of the four week, once per week, two hour sessions. The cost is $599 and includes a total of eight hours of highly individualized and hands-on Clydesdale time across the time span.
JFP Equine is located at 5674 Kaskaskia Road in Waterloo, Illinois, which is roughly about thirty-five minutes from downtown Saint Louis. As they only book experiences like the ones detailed above, there is no set business hours as they operate by appointment only. You can make any and all bookings at jfpequine.com where they also detail each and every experience showcased above. There is so much information on their website that one absolutely MUST check it out! You can also find them on Facebook.
As I’ve already mentioned, this experience was second to none and one that I would absolutely recommend to anyone and everyone! Jim (not pictured) and Barclay possessed a wealth of knowledge and ensured that our already guaranteed great experience was amplified to Clydesdales sized heights! This was an easy 10/10 for all of us and one that we would all Highly Recommend to any and all!
They do special events around various holidays, so you can be absolutely certain that we will happily be returning for another experience amplified by some alternate theming! You know I love a good picture, I may have only shared 15 here, but I alone took 146 on this day! I couldn’t get enough and again, I promise you won’t be able to either! So, if you’re looking for something different and dynamic to do with your loved ones, then this is most certainly it!
As always, THANK YOU so much for viewing! Feel free to leave a comment below as I love reading and responding to them! I’ll return soon with another all new post, so until then, I wish you all, all the best!
Working hard everyday towards achieving my goal of becoming an international best-selling author. Wrote the book, just need the agent and publisher. Received the ultimate endorsement when Britney Spears wrote me saying she'd be one of the first in line to buy my book! #FreeBritney
