Purpose

Saving the heavy draft Percheron Horse

Outeniqua Moon and the Heavy Draft Horse Foundation NPC

Our purpose is to save the Heavy Draft Percheron Horses and restore that magical partnership between horses and humans and to show a way to rediscover the earth, the horse and ourselves; to recreate a seamless harmonious balance between ourselves and nature and the way to real green, sustainable farming.

Most importantly we want to show the world the worth of the heavy draft horses and at last get them the protection and recognition they deserve. We want to continue to breed the Percherons, and in addition we have created a sanctuary for other heavy draft horses who have been abused and are without homes. To date we have rescued six Percherons and seven other horses. We do re-home horses to good lifetime homes

We will be farming vegetables in addition to teff and oat hay for the horses. All our farming operations will be done using horses instead of tractors and will be organic. Our main supply of fertilizer is horse manure and we do have a worm farm. The vegetables will be to feed the staff and guests at Outeniqua Moon and supply a soup kitchen at our local school to help provide for the children.

Whilst standing or sitting next the great horses at Outeniqua Moon you can actually realise the awesome power and beauty of divine imagination. If you are really lucky and humble you can see, that you are also part of that immense imagination; sitting bare headed in the starlight next to great horses keeping company with giants on the eternal stage. This experience is enough for a whole lifetime and this is why we still suffer for our horses and why we carry so much reverence and love in our hearts for them and everything on this green earth our wonderful home in space.
Step out of your door and into a beautiful world of mountains, birds and horses, with fabulous carriage drive, riding, hiking and mountain bike trails on the farm and in the area.

It is home to the biggest horses in South Africa.

Here everything is simple and children and adults can reconnect with horses and nature and enjoy the beauty and purity of the crystal days spent here.  The foals are friendly, the great horses are friendly, the dogs and cats are friendly and the staff of Outeniqua Moon go out of their way to be friendly and helpful.

The Relationship Between Horses & Humans

For ten thousand years horses were central to family life. The earliest signs of the partnership between horses and humans were found in two lonely graves hundreds of miles apart from each-other; on the Asian steppe near to the old silk route lay one grave and in Egypt the other. These ancient humans had so revered their horses that they had elected to be buried with them.

What has happened to us? We hardly know horses anymore and that magical archaic companionship is all but lost to us. For ten thousand years the human spirit has been bound up with the spirit of the horse. Everyone knew horses, horses were the key to our lives and they set up a balance for our temperaments whether we realise it or not and this intrinsic balance has been lost. In order to work with a horse efficiently you have to be in a certain state of mind, it could be called the perfect state because you have to be so well balanced psychologically.

The horse is a herd animal which depends on the alpha mare for all its signals. The alpha mare is firm, fair and strong and all her instincts are for the good of the herd. The other horses read her at an emotive level and take all their cues from her. They in fact mirror her emotional behaviour and read her emotional signals with a hundred per cent accuracy and their lives depend on it. The trust between the alpha mare and the herd is absolute.

When we work with horses we have to become the alpha mare which is a very hard position to fill indeed. We have to become unselfish and put the horse first. We have to moderate our tempers; overcome our fears and bring ourselves to a point of objective stillness in order to work well with a horse. The old horsemen called this the feel.

It has only been in the last hundred years that motor cars, trucks and tractors have replaced the horse. In those hundred years we have lost that moderating factor in our lives and we have lost the great spiritual link to our souls. We are dislocated in a terrible mechanical limbo.

In acquiring the motor vehicles we have gained freedom of covering great distances at speed but this has been paid for with a huge price. Not only is our planet becoming increasingly inhospitable to life but we have lost touch with life and living things.

The Plight of the Heavy Draft Horse

The relationship of humans and horses has sustained the world again and again throughout the centuries. For 10,000 years horses were central to family life. The earliest signs of the partnership between horses and humans were found in two lonely graves hundreds of miles apart from each-other; on the Asian steppe near to the old silk route lay one grave and in Egypt the other. These ancient humans had so revered their horses that they had elected to be buried with them.

What has happened to us? We hardly know horses anymore and that magical archaic companionship is all but lost to us. For ten thousand years the human spirit has been bound up with the spirit of the horse. Everyone knew horses, horses were the key to our lives and they set up a balance for our temperaments whether we realise it or not and this intrinsic balance has been lost. In order to work with a horse efficiently you have to be in a certain state of mind, it could be called the perfect state because you have to be so well balanced psychologically.

The horse is a herd animal which depends on the alpha mare for all its signals. The alpha mare is firm, fair and strong and all her instincts are for the good of the herd. The other horses read her at an emotive level and take all their cues from her. They in fact mirror her emotional behaviour and read her emotional signals with a hundred per cent accuracy and their lives depend on it. The trust between the alpha mare and the herd is absolute.

When we work with horses we have to become the alpha mare which is a very hard position to fill indeed. We have to become unselfish and put the horse first. We have to moderate our tempers; overcome our fears and bring ourselves to a point of objective stillness in order to work well with a horse. The old horsemen called this the feel.

It has only been in the last 100 years that motor cars, trucks and tractors have replaced the horse. In those hundred years we have lost that moderating factor in our lives and we have lost the great spiritual link to our souls. We are dislocated in a terrible mechanical limbo.

In acquiring the motor vehicles we have gained freedom of covering great distances at speed but this has been paid for with a huge price. Not only is our planet becoming increasingly inhospitable to life but we have lost touch with life and living things.

Visit the Heavy Draft Horse Foundation

The Heavy Draft Horse Foundation is about preserving and saving the heavy draft horses, who are at the edge of extinction; facing climate change and power to the people moving forward into the future. Our four watch words are – conservation, confidence, courage and compassion – the four C’s, and if they dictate all our actions and all our thoughts we cannot fail.

Pay a visit to the Heavy Draft Horse Foundation website to find out how you can help us in our mission.

Click to Visit the HDHF