Meet The Duchess of Missouri, our latest white horse purchased for future use with us as a Princess Carriage horse. About now you are probably wondering if we are color blind so let me explain. First off let me tell you a little bit about Duchess. She is a registered Percheron draft horse who is about to turn two which means shes still a baby.
We purchased Duchess from Robert Sparrow of Missouri who is not only a top breeder of Percheron horses he is very active with the Percheron horse association of America as a board member. Roberts father is the famous teamster who drove the 40 and 48 horse hitches in top parades all around the country in the late 70's through mid 80's. The elder Mr. Sparrow holds the guiness world record for these feats. His son Robert whom we purchased the filly from was also involved with his dad in the record breaking heavy horse hitches. You can read about the Sparrows here http://www.zearing.net/sparrow.asp
Back to the color mystery, Percheron drafts come in two colors either black, or grey. All grey horses in this breed are born black, as they age they turn grey, and as the white hairs increase in numbers over the black hairs the horse turn from dappled grey which is the equivalent of salt and pepper in human hair to all white. So...believe it or not Duchess will be a white horse. To be born black and turn grey and horse must have at least one grey parent. If you look closely at Duchess tail in this picture you can see that it is turning white already.
By the time Duchess is old enough for us to actually use as one of "The Princess's Carriage" horses she will have been through several years of special training to prepare her for all the things she may encounter while doing carriage work. She must prove to be fearless in traffic, crowds, noise, camera flashes, and not only brave those things but enjoy the work as well. We only use horses that have good attitudes, and happy expressions on their faces. Lets face it, who wants pictures of a horse with its ears pulled back and sour look on its face in their wedding pictures? Not only that, we want a horse that thouroughly enjoys the attention it will get from people, and not one that despises being petted and pulls away,
We picked Duchess specifically because of her friendly attitude, happy work ethic, and calm demeanor. Whether or not she will work out is yet to be seen, but we feel we have chosen well and would be quite surprised if she didn't. If she proves to not like carriage work, then we will find a job she does enjoy and she will be steered in that direction. We are dedicated to having not only healthy but also happy horses here at "The Princess's Carriage"
