Of course any horse lover knows about the wild horses in the Carmague in the south of France. Little known though is that we also have some wild horses in the Kleinmond Lagoon, situated in the Western Cape Province. They are not indigenous as, like in America, horses where only introduced into southern Africa by the white man after he settled here some 350 years ago. There are many tales as to the origin of these horses, which roam freely in an area of some 25 to 30 square kilometers of difficult, accessible, wetland terrain. One version I find to be the most plausible goes like this: At the outset of the Anglo-Boer War in 1899 the British requisitioned the horses of the farmers in the Western Cape, who were, for historic reasons, mainly Boers of Dutch / German / French origin. The horses were of course to be used against the enemy, the brothers of these Boers, namely the Boers of the then independent Transvaal and Orange Freestate. A patriotic Boer farmer, who farmed adjacent to the lagoon, therefore preferred instead to let his horses escape into the wetlands. When the war finally ended in 1902, he had died in the meanwhile and thus the horses where never reclaimed
So, 110 years later I visit their descendants regularly with my guests on our Horse Safari. After possibly having seen some Pelicans or Flamingos, sometimes a Fish Eagle or a lonely seal cub on the beach, we usually find these horses somewhere in the labyrinth of the wetland systems, split in several groups of four to six, some with a foal, always led by stallions. Considering that they haven’t been touched by man for over 100 years, have no vet to inoculate them against the dreadful African Horse Sickness (towards which they seem to have become inherently immune) and have to survive on the natural grasses of the lagoon and drink the somewhat brackish water, they are looking excellent, as the photo shows .
When visiting, we have to be weary of the stallions, who might, if we come too close, try to kick out at our horses. The mares, however, are quite inquisitive and often come towards us, as the photo of the ridden horse being sniffed at by a wild mare shows.
When we finally canter away, a playful yearling sometimes follows us for several hundred meters.
Carl from the Southern Tip of Africa
So, 110 years later I visit their descendants regularly with my guests on our Horse Safari. After possibly having seen some Pelicans or Flamingos, sometimes a Fish Eagle or a lonely seal cub on the beach, we usually find these horses somewhere in the labyrinth of the wetland systems, split in several groups of four to six, some with a foal, always led by stallions. Considering that they haven’t been touched by man for over 100 years, have no vet to inoculate them against the dreadful African Horse Sickness (towards which they seem to have become inherently immune) and have to survive on the natural grasses of the lagoon and drink the somewhat brackish water, they are looking excellent, as the photo shows .
When visiting, we have to be weary of the stallions, who might, if we come too close, try to kick out at our horses. The mares, however, are quite inquisitive and often come towards us, as the photo of the ridden horse being sniffed at by a wild mare shows.
When we finally canter away, a playful yearling sometimes follows us for several hundred meters.
Carl from the Southern Tip of Africa
