Turns Out, There Were Clydesdales After All…

… just not the actual Budweiser variety.

Horse people of the world, the joke may be on us — advertisers everywhere heard our banshee-like shrieking when there weren’t enough emotion-grabbing tear-jerking beauty shots of the beloved Budweiser Clydesdales in recent Super Bowls (seriously, if I could get people even a tenth as excited about my Belgians, I’d have it made) and figured out the quickest route to football commercial stardom: add a Clyde.

While the Budweiser eight-horse hitch was notably absent from this year’s Super Bowl starting lineup of TV commercials, other, lesser-known Clydesdales made a few appearances.

First, there was this rather bizarre ad for The Voice. (FYI, I live in “the country” and I’ve done very few of these things, somehow. I guess I’m doing it wrong.)

And then there was the all-star lineup of Tide ads. The Clydesdale spot comes in at 1:15 — but there’s a bonus two-seater horse a little bit earlier!

Well-played, advertisers. We’ll still be keeping an eagle eye out for the beloved Clydesdales in the future, but we’re glad you caught on to the quickest way to our hearts. (And also for keeping the Clydesdale equine actors of this great nation well-employed.)

Did we miss any Clydesdale moments? Let us know in the comments section!

Bonus video: here’s the Budweiser internet spot that we featured last week. You may now start seeing this ad on television as well, while Budweiser featured a different ad during the actual game yesterday.

Go riding!