Blind Love-South Africa Provides Hoof Care & Nutritional Food for Cart Horses

Our 2024 grantee, Blind Love, completed their grant project, Letsema - Working Together to Achieve More. The goal of the grant project was:

To provide quality services to the cart horse community in Thaba’Nchu. These services will be the provision of good quality sustainable feed and farrier services.

In September, Blind Love began their grant project with the 1st of their monthly farrier outreaches. These were carried out by a professional farrier along with graduates of the Agripreneur Farmers Institute. The Agripreneur graduates working with Blind Love are a passionate group of young people who, after completing their studies, returned to Thaba’Nchu determined to make a difference in their communities and for the cart horses.

To help ensure that good hoof care becomes part of ongoing care of their horses, during farrier outreaches, Blind Love-South Africa encouraged horse owners to participate with the farrier to learn this essential part of their horse's health and welfare.

Man trims the hooves of a white horse with a blue mark while others watch in a dirt yard with a fence and trees in South Africa. — Itumuleng (Agripreneur team member) fitting shoes on a cart horse while the owner looks on

Also in September, the Agripreneur Farmers team began land and water surveys on the communal tribal land in the villages of Gladstone and Merino surrounding Thaba’Nchu. Then, during the next several months, the Agripreneur team continued to make regular visits during soil preparation, planting, and production phases to assess the growth of the crop and to weed, water, and harvest. When the crops are harvested they'll be baled, milled, or pelleted to provide a sustainable source of nutritious food for cart horses.

Vast dry grassland with sparse vegetation, power lines in the distance, under a clear blue sky in South Africa. — The field prior to soil preparation and planting lucerne (alfalfa) and oats

The community truly came together for this project, including an elderly man from Gladstone, who owns a tractor and was willing to assist in soil preparation and seeding.

Green tractor parked on dirt and a brick house in background in rural South Africa. — Tractor for land prep and planting

Three people in hats stand and discuss in an open, grassy field under a bright blue sky in South Africa. — Tshegofatso from Agripreneur farmers with student participants checking on the plot as the lucerne crop grows

During the grant period, 225 horses received hoof care from professional farriers thanks to Blind Love-South Africa. Ntate 7, the farrier who conducted the outreaches, received a complete set of good quality farrier tools. Makeba Kahoza and Itumuleng Patrick from the Agripreneur Farmers team, assistants to Ntate 7 during the farrier outreaches, also received farrier tools. Blind Love purchased 460 shoes, which the farriers fitted on these hard working horses.

Man in a blue shirt and cap trims horse's hoof while wearing a brown apron in South Africa. — Ntate 7 works on a horse's hoof with his new farrier tools

Philippa wrote that, "We are very pleased with the results from the farrier services. This part of the project has now become self sustainable with the owners being charged a very small fee of R 15 for services. This has allowed the team to purchase another 100 shoes! Owners are also learning about hoofcare at these outreches."

Two people tend to a white horse's hooves near a red building in South Africa. — A horse gets his new shoes at Blind Love's farrier outreach

Two horses are on a dirt ground, one being shoed by a person in blue and another person holds a second horse in South Africa. — Horses' hooves being trimmed and shod

Men tending to a horse, one of them in a red outfit holds the horse's hoof with green trees in the background in South Africa. — Blind Love posted about our grant project

The Agripreneur team oversaw the planting of one hectare of lucerne in the village of Gladstone and held three training workshops for 37 community members and horse owners. Training covered soil conservation, soil preparation, planting and harvesting of lucerne, animal nutrition, and how lucerne can contribute to improving a horse's nutrition and can generate income for farmers.

Extreme heat and drought became a risk as the growing season advanced and Blind Love realized they would have to repair the windmill and water tank in Gladstone. Without an irrigation system for use during the dry months, the lucerne crop could fail. While they were sourcing parts (to be purchased with AKI funds), Philippa told us, "Thankfully the rain started falling and it hasn’t stopped!"

Thanks to the rain, the lucerne crop began to grow again along with weeds. Philippa wrote, "The clearing of the weeds has been very labour intensive! Some lovely sweet veld grass has come up in the lucerne too."

Person in a green shirt and beige cap bends over green plants that he is picking to put in a bag on his shoulder in South Africa. — Time to harvest the lucerne

Just as the grant period was ending, Philippa wrote, "We have just recently decided it is time to actually cut and bale this lucerne / grass mix, bale it and provide it to the cart horses as our first crop! As soon as we have cut and baled the first cut of the lucerne crop we will be able to sell the bales to the horse owners at a very reasonable price which will generate income. The lucerne crop will continue to produce for many years. The team is going to look at buying a milling machine and mill some of the crop which will make it easier to store and transport. We are excited that each aspect of this grant will indeed become self sustainable."

We can't wait to get pictures from Philippa of the baled lucerne, and even better, seeing the horses enjoy their nutritious feed.