New York, Melbourne, Vienna. Many of the world's leading tourist cities offer horse and carriage rides and now Cape Town is hitching onto the bandwagon.
Smokey and Light, stocky Percheron horses, have taken up residence at Cape Town Castle this summer. Three times a day they pull a 16-seat wagon through the streets to the Company's Garden.
These gentle equines, with hoofs the size of side plates, are among the dozens of "working horses" owned by Marlene de Beer and John Foster of the Cape Town Carriage Company.
To supplement their income, De Beer works as a pole dancer in a city nightclub. "Keeping horses is expensive. There are feed bills, farrier's and vets' bills," she says.
"Pole-dancing is a good way to earn money. I learnt to do it when I was 18. As a youngster I danced to feed the horses and look after my family," she says.
"My late husband owned the brothel and strip club where I danced. I helped him to run the place. I wasn't impressed when he started giving me flowers and earrings. I told him: 'I don't sleep with the boss.'"
When he asked her what her dream gift would be, she said: "A skoon perd [clean horse]. He bought me a horse - that was when I knew he loved me."
De Beer lives for animals. She bought her first pony for R50 when she was three and has always rescued injured animals.
"Birds, rats, whatever I found, I'd take them home and help them get better," she says. "Eventually there were so many animals that my grandfather built an animal hospital in his double garage."
De Beer is still rescuing animals at the Ottery smallholding she and John share with 20 dogs and 60 horses. Abused horses find a haven in their paddocks. Wounds are healed and they grow healthy .
Most of her horses earn their keep - the Percherons are at the Castle and the ponies are used for trail rides in Barrydale and Stanford. ''I earn enough dancing to look after them well," she says. Visit: www.ctcco.co.za
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