DAILY LEADER / RACHEL EIDE / Eric Soto (foreground) prepares to hitch the sixth Clydesdale to the wagon Sunday afternoon at the Lincoln Civic Center arena. When complete, the hitch will include eight horses.

The Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Clydesdales will meet the public Monday from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at the stall barn near the arena at the Lincoln Civic Center, but Sunday afternoon, the horses and their handlers put on a special show for Anheuser-Busch contest winner Josh Smith of Brookhaven and his family and friends (please see related photo gallery).

Soto (foreground) and Dave Thomas (background) get the hitch ready.

Getting eight horses ready for show time takes the efforts of all six human members of the Clydesdales’ East Coast Hitch team, based out of Merrimack, N.H.

The 7,000 lb. wagon is pulled by eight horses, each weighing an average of 2,000 lbs. “We travel with 10 horses and hitch eight to the wagon at one time,” explained Dave Thomas, East Coast Hitch supervisor. The entourage requires three semis to move from place to place, staying on the road nine to 10 months a year.

A Clydesdale is brought to the bridling area.

Prior to bringing it to the arena, a horse’s bridle and bit are put in place and the collar and harness are cinched in the stall barn.

Ready to roll in the civic center arena.