BlindLove Cart Horse Report December 2023

BlindLove are a group based in South Africa that works for both working donkeys and horses in their area. AAA is proud to support this group with the help of our generous donors. Following is BlindLove’s December report on cart horses.

December was structured a bit differently because Philippa was heading up to the Free State for the week 4-10 December. We had lots of activities planned!

We held outreaches with the cart horses in Thaba’nchu on the 7th and 8th. It was fantastic for Philippa to reconnect with this community again where we’ve been working since 2014!

We handed out and fitted our next batch of 20 humane harnesess. It was also good to see some horses coming in wearing harnesses from our first batch we distributed earlier in the year. We were pleased to see these horses did not have any new harness related injuries!

We handed out our first batch of simple bridles and promised owners there are more to come!

All the horses were checked, dewormed and treated for ticks and parasites.

All minor injuries were treated and cleaned.

Philippa got time to catch up with the owners and chat to them about activities during the past year with the Agripreneur Team. Everyone seemed very happy, grateful and clearly worked well with the Agripreneur Team. We then headed out and visited the rural villages of Merino and Marago in the outlying rural Tribal Trusts on the 8th, after completing the outreach with the cart horses.

Marago was the area that was badly burnt with the dreadful fires earlier in the year. These villages are are more than 50 km from Thaba’nchu town so it is impossible for owners to take their horses to be treated by the vets at the clinic. Owners often owning more than 20 horses at a time! For the most part however, life for the horses living out in these tribal trust villages is good. They live together in herds and family bands, running free and when the rains fall there is lots of grazing. This is where the Basotho ponies are bred. Some of them get sold to owners in Thaba’nchu town and become working / cart horses. If they are lucky, they will retire out to these trust lands again in their old age.

Philippa has visited Merino often over the years so once again it was good to connect with this communtiy! These villages are still governed by the tribal Chiefs and the old chief in Merino is a wonderful man, passionate about horses and all the horses in Merino! His daugheter Anna is also a fantastic horsewoman!

Herds of horses were brought in to be checked, dewormed, treated for ticks and have their hooves checked. We saw no injuries at all! Being early December, we saw lots and lots of beautiful foals. Here we also handed out some more harnesses, as they also have cart horses working in these villages. We handed out some of the bridles we had made up too. We left Anna and her father with a box of basic wound care meds and tick grease and some dewormers to treat horses in the upcoming months.

Then on to the village of Marago. We met with the owner who had some of his horses burnt in the terribly fires. Thankfully the rains had come, the grass is lush and green and the horses are looking good. This owner had lots of lovely mares with foals at foot and when we were busy treating one mare, Philippa was taking down her details, he said he name was Lillian….Philippa recognized her immediately as a retired cart horse that she hadnt seen in years! Lillian was looking so much better! Glossy and healthy with a beautiful foal, in fact it was the foal who had been born just a couple of days after the terrible fires!

He has bought himself a new Arab stallion he wants to breed with. He owns 29 horses. We treated all of them for worms and ticks and left him with a harness, a bridle and some basic wound care meds. It was a very productive, long hot day!

On Sat 9th we attended the annual Equestrain Event organized by The Agripreneur Farmers Institute team. This is an annual event they organize to celebrate their horses and this year they held it in Zone 1, just outside Thaba’Nchu town which is a more central location.

The Basotho peolpe come from a generations of horse people and its wondeful to see how some of these horses have been ellevated to “rockstar” status, with the woman and children running out to meet them and perhaps be lucky enough to touch or pat them!

People come from all over to either participate or as a spectator. People from all the outlying tribal trust villages, the cart horse owners and then from even further a field towns, even as far away as Lesotho!

For us as an organization it is a great opportunity to meet new horses and owners, discuss with the owners matters of horse welfare and care, assist them with correct and decent equipment like saddles, bridles, numnahs, boots, halters, bits, feed and then treat any wounds ( we saw almost nothing on the day!)

At the end of the day one horse owner stood up and gave a rousing speech in Sotho ‘We love our horses with all our hearts and I’m glad we have people like your organization. It will inspire and motivate children to be part of this beautiful culture and know how to take proper care of our animals. Lets respect our customs and do it in a better way, not forgetting horses have feelings. We are looking forward to more events. God bless you’

A total of 108 horses were checked and treated during these activities in December.