HOW MANY HORSES DOES IT TAKE TO RUN A SAFARI?
How do safaris balance giving guests the ride of their lives and keeping their horses fit and well with decent time for rest and recovery? There is a different approach for every safari.
Let’s take a look behind the scenes to see how some of our safaris manage the workload of their herds.
NAMIBIA | 100+ Horses
Andrew Gillies is too humble to say it himself but he has the strongest herd of any safari out there. The horses are fast and fit. They cover huge distances on all four of his itineraries. At the end of the safari they’re loaded onto a truck, driven home, and then offloaded into their huge paddock near Windhoek where they live as single herd. They are largely left alone, but for a dentist visit and a checking over in the paddock, until they are collected for the next safari six weeks later.
Andrew runs three teams of horses. Each team has the same safari schedule. The six weeks rest means they are a little fresh on the first day. They are ridden lightly by the guides and volunteers before the guests arrive but other than than are fresh and ready to go on Day 1. This is a safari for riders so you should be able to sit a few pig jumps in the first canter before they relax into the daily grind of this epic safari.
Horses are bred and sourced by Andrew. Many are descended from his quarter horse stallion who only passed away a couple of years ago. Horses are fed four times a day and their last feed is at 12:30am. They have a full brush down three times a day to check for injury and to keep them in prime condition. The herd is made up of a mix of mares and geldings. When they age out of safari Andrew aims to move them on as pairs to family homes.
The group size in Namibia is 12 with two guides, a volunteer and spare horses along for the ride.
MACATOO | OKAVANGO DELTA | 52+ Horses
Macatoo run a herd of geldings of all different types. Some are sourced from Andrew Gillies from Namibia. You will find a lot of Namibian Warmbloods but also a percheron cross, a friesian and some larger weight carriers.
With a max occupation of 15 at camp with a max of 14 riders groups are split in two, with a guide taking out maximum seven people at once.
Guests swap between two horses. The horse you rode in the afternoon will be your monring horse too. After a post lunch siesta you change to your second horse. This was each horse works with a nights rest in between shifts.
The herd is managed by Modley Manyema (Mod) who has been at Macatoo for 25 years. In the Delta all staff work a two months on, one month off system, so the horses have Mod 24/7 for two months and his deputy for a month when he has his well deserved month off.
Macatoo has a system of one groom for every 6 horses. They graze on the plains during the day under the watchful eye of a guard. Mid afternoon they are released to run freely to their stall for their hard feed. It’s a must see on safari!
The group size at Macatoo is 14 split between two guides, for an individual riding group of seven plus a main guide and a back up guide.
ESTANCIA DON JOAQUIN | ARGENTINA | 100+ Horses
Estancia Don Joaquin have over 100 horses. They are ridden barefoot and live out all year. The climate is comfortable with dry warm winters and summers can be hot but the area is a wetland, similar to the Okavango Delta, with many lagoons to cool off in.
They live in herd, almost all together all the time. They are mainly local criollo and criollo crosses. Some have percheron in them for weight carrying and some are finer with mysterious origins.
You are able to keep your horse for your entire stay but most often you will change and try a few. They are very open to you changing at any time. When you go swimming on horseback you will find they bring out the chubbiest, water loving horses for the best (and most comfortable) experience.
After a ride the saddles come off and they are released to the paddock immediately. The estancia’s team of gauchos checks on the horses not being ridden and the broodmares every day as they make their rounds on the farm.
Horses are trained by their gauchos who take quite a soft approach, allowing them to rest in the field for long periods between training blocks before entering full work with guests around four to five years old. They are all very calm.
Don Joaquin have recently started a breeding programme of top level criollo horses that future guests will be able to enjoy and current guests can gush over the foals in the springtime.
Don Joaquin doesn’t have a maximum group size per se and each group that books together will be taken out by gauchos, that might be on your own if you would prefer or a group of 12 as we have on our private estancia take overs.
CROSSING THE ANDES | CHILE | 29 Horses
A new ride we have just come back from is an incredible adventure riding for 9 days from Chile to Argentina. The group sizes are small with six being the guest maximum with a main guide and an arriero (horseman) joining with a packhorse that doubles as a spare horse.
Horses work for five days before you transfer to horses on the Argentine side. The horses are trucked back to Pucon and rest before the next ride. There is a full second team, each with fitted tack, available to match guest’s preferences and ability and to run a second trail if there isn’t enough time for rest.
Guests enjoy a two hour ride on the first morning to make sure the pairing is a match.
In thirty years of trails the guides tell us they have only had to leave three horses behind for later collection. The trail is some of the most forward and adventurous bush-wacking riding we have encountered and these horses take it all in their stride at a great pace!
Horses are fed corn twice a day and bales of hay are left along the trail at the start of the season to keep them in tip-top condition. None have any rub marks and all are very tame and hang around humans happily even when released.
They have a couple of oldies at 18 and 20 in the herd who you could mistake for half their age. They are a great weight and never slow their pace. A testament to great and continuous care over the years.
The maximum group size is six with a head guide and a horseman.
KYGYZSTAN | Pooled Horses
Kyrgyzstan is very different to other rides in that our guides own about 10 horses each and then borrow horses from relatives in the village during the season. During the main season the herd swells to 20 horses in work. The horses graze together on common village land and all know the routes very well.
Our guides are very switched onto western horse sense and all their horses are shod, fed twice a day and they brush them twice a day.
Horses in Kyrgyzstan are typically shorter pony size though this is the best body to heart ratio to thrive in high altitude on the steep slopes of Tien Shan mountains. We only ride horses aged four and older. In Song Kul our guide prefers to work with taller horses crossed with thoroughbreds and quarter horses that has become fashionable in the country for a fast ride. In the wilder regions near the borderlands you will ride more classic ponies. Horses work for three days in Kel Suu and Song Kol before resting for two days. On the longer self supported pack trips you will stick with your horse the entire ride. They tend to work three months out of the year before the snow makes the pack trails to difficult to run.
Group sizes are eight to ten maximum with a main horseman and his assistant and your english speaking guide.