a village in love with horses

Oscar Pick has more than 100 horses. He owns them in the West Coast Moravian village of Mamre. Mamr was established by German Moravia missionaries in 1808. It became a haven for slaves freed in 1830s and later took in Khoisan inboekselings. It's spring and there are corrugated iron backyard paddocks with horses leaning over rickety fences. A wedding is taking place in Mamrer. Three young men arrive on horseback.

Darian Adams is the owner of five horses and he's breeding them. He's organising a race in Mamre. There are about 1,000 horses on community land surrounding the village and maybe 500 in the villages. The last census put the human population at 9,048. There's a horse to every six people or 1.4 horses per household. Mamré Equestrian Club has a gymkhana, commandos and Horse Wash Day. They take a tractor with a wagon for the food and they wash all the horses for free. It's 25 km gentle outride with boerie braai halfway.

The championship race is taking place on the road to Rooipad. The start is up a hill and the finish line is at the T-junction. There are some fine horses, including a unicorn-like speckled Appaloosa, a pinto in brown and white cryptic camo, and a powerful Arab. The winner is William Marnus on Stout. He is riding behind Darian in his bakkie. Daryan is covered in dust from flying hooves. One race was won by a horse whose rider is a girl looking no older than 15. In another, the horse stumbles at full gallop and goes down.

This story first appeared in Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.