A tribute

This is a special tribute to the horse.

Kaapschehoop has the only wild herds in South Africa, whilst the other nearest known wild horse occurrence is in Namibia.

The Namibian strain is from German settlers who dominated that area since before the 19th Century.

Those wild horses were most probably left to fend for themselves by German soldiers and then managed to successful survive in the dry conditions and contend with predators such as lion.
The German horses mainly took to the wild when the South African troops forced a German surrender during the first World War, 1914 – 1918. After that the then South West Africa was placed under the control of the Union of South Africa, before South Africa became a Republic, as proclaimed by the League of Nations.

Besides that of their own territory, the horses have survived through the world’s most turbulent history, beginning with the Russian Revolution in 1917. Proof enough of the horse’s resilience, endurance, strength and ultimately their incredibly faithful service to mankind.

It is believed that the Kaapschehoop herds are remnants of British troops stationed here during the South African War, but the acceptable theory is that they were left to the wild when the Kaapscehoop police station was shut down here many years ago, to make way for motorised transport.

Although our herds do not have to contend with the extreme conditions of the Namibian strain, they suffer from horse sickness, prevalent in this area: at times numbering over 200 horses they keep getting thinned out in the wet summers. This seems to occur mainly at lower altitudes than the village, which means our horses have to stay here in order to survive.

It is evident that some of the animals have a certain resistance to horse sickness and have been adapted as riding mounts over the years.

Although they are wild a number of them are probably tamer than an average riding horse. We do the best we can for them. So please drive carefully when in this area.