Horses

Cape Town Carriage Company use Percherons in its Cape Town operations and Napier Wagon Trail operations.

The French Percheron horse was originally bred as long ago as 732 AD over the years these horses have been further bred to become draught horses. There natures are gentle as in most large breed draught horses. The average weight of a full-grown gelding reaches nearly 1000kg. There strength is phenomenal and having utilised the breed in all its operations Cape Town Carriage Company has found them exceedingly reliable from both a visitor interaction perspective and a willing team member.

Most of the Percherons found in South Africa were mainly used in the late 19th Century as draught horses for agriculture, as motorised vehicles numbers increased most of these horses were phased out and the majority slaughtered. Up until the early 80,s the last true working heavy Percherons were still being used in the Knysna forest area pulling logs from the less accessible areas. As the logging industry as a whole took a down turn these Percherons were phased out and sold off. A vast majority of these horses were sold for slaughter and only a lucky few found new homes as pets or working horses as part of redevelopment projects.

One of CTCC main aims is to ensure that theseanimals are kept and nurtured and prevented from leaving the South African horse scene.