Gentle Giants at Penwarn Lodge

August 11, 2015 by Chasing the Rainbow in KwaZulu Natal Post Comment

Our second stop along the Lesotho border on our KZN Borders Tour was Penwarn Lodge & Waterford Farm near Underberg – home to one of the biggest heavy horse stud farms in the country. This has long been on our “places to go” wishlist as our beautiful gentle giant Percheron cart-horse, Smelter, was born and bred at Waterford.

As we entered the estate, we were greeted by a breeding herd of ostriches, then in quick succession Blesbok (including a couple of white ones), Zebra, and Africa’s largest antelope, the Eland. Soon we were surrounded by spectacular spotted Nguni cows, herds of other impressive looking cattle (which we could not identify but looked very rare to our untrained eye) and field after field filled with herds of horses of every shape and colour.

A handsome Percheron stallion

The farm is situated in a fertile valley surrounded by hills and is a patchwork quilt of verdant green fields interspersed with the winter brown grass of the region, a winding river, dams and marshes. Penwarn Lodge is tucked in a dip around a dam, and is graced with large oak trees and weeping willows. It must look spectacular in summer – when we arrived, the trees had lost their leaves and everything was quite brown due to the freezing winter temperatures and low seasonal rainfall. We stayed in Nguni – a cute thatched A-frame cottage which was quite a step up in creature comforts from the more basic fisherman’s cottage at the previous place. Beautifully furnished, hot water on tap, and even DSTV (although this is not high on our holiday wish list).

After a divine sleep under a puffy cloud of crisp white linen, we set off to meet Mondi, who was to take us on a tour of the stud farm. Mondi bills himself as the A-Z of everything horsey at Waterford. He performs the tasks of a trainer, vet, groom, manager, rider, midwife – basically anything and everything that he needs to do to keep the 680ish horses in his care in ship-shape condition.

He introduced us to the Percherons, Shires, Clydesdales, cross breeds and his personal favourite, the Swedish Warmbloods, which Mondi does adrenalin-inducing trotting races with. We learned that each herd has one stallion and around 15-20 mares. The horses at Waterford are kept in as natural an environment as possible – they are left to sort out their own pecking order, with the fillies that don’t listen to the stallion quickly being put into place with an angry bite or kick. There is no interference in the breeding process – they let nature take its course, and just carefully manage the bloodlines that are kept together.

Mondi with his Swedish Warmblood trotters

Our drive around the fields culminated with meeting our horse, Smelter’s family of black Percherons. Although his sire is no longer alive, we met his very impressive successor, Monty, along with many of Smelter’s half-sisters. After experiencing these gentle giants in their natural environment, we felt kind of sad for Smelter, who is now a stabled suburban horse – not short of love, but definitely not as wild and free as at Waterford.

Meeting Smelter’s family of black Percherons

The horses are not the only things to admire on the farm – the bird life was fantastic and we spotted loads of water-loving birds including Spurwing Geese, African Shell Ducks and Fish Eagles, even a few Crowned Cranes. The most amazing birds though were the silently circling Cape Vultures – around 60 altogether. Unfortunately when you run such a large farming operation, there are regular casualties, and Waterford puts the carcasses out to feed the vultures. It feels surreal to sit under the airborn whirlwind of huge wings, frowning foreheads and curved beaks.

Manford the otter also deserves a special mention. We took the canoes out on the dam in front of the main lodge and were delighted when his little head popped up next to our boat! Manford is pretty tame, but there were also loads of wild otter families on the farm.

We loved hiking around the hills, watching the incredible technicolour skyscapes, picnicking outside our lovely chalet and absorbing the calm country atmosphere.

The skies at Penwarn were incredible

Penwarn delighted with its beautiful location and the ever so memorable close encounter with herds of thundering hooves of draft horses, and we highly recommend it as a destination for those wishing to learn a bit more about farm life and horses in particular.

Watch the video highlights of our Penwarn visit:
If the video does not display correctly, click here to watch on YouTube.